The NEPAD Agency Regional Integration, Infrastructure and Trade Programme convened on 10-11 July 2018 in Gaborone, Botswana, a Reference Group Meeting on the Support to PIDA with specific focus on the PIDA Capacity Building Project (PIDA CAP) Phase Two.

The meeting held in Gaborone, Botswana brought together Regional Economic Communities Infrastructure experts, Development Partners, Infrastructure Project experts and PIDA lead partners i.e. African Union Commission, NEPAD Agency and AfDB to review the second phase of PIDA CAP and analyse its value proposition in line with the mandate of the various PIDA partners in charge of PIDA implementation.

“The first phase of PIDA PAP was a period of defining and apportioning roles and responsibilities within the African Infrastructure institutional arrangements, the next phase will allow us to truly consolidate our interventions and deliver more concrete results,” said Symerre Grey-Johnson, Head of RIITP, on behalf of the NEPAD Agency CEO, Dr Ibrahim Mayaki.

In light of the need to craft a strategy for PIDA CAP Phase two implementation, the experts were assigned into thematic groups in order to input into the proposed working document for Phase two implementation. The session also made recommendations for the selection of new PIDA projects, the financing thereof and made suggestions on possible resource mobilisation campaigns to fund these projects.

Speaking on behalf of the African Union Commission, the Director for Infrastructure and Energy, Mr Cheikh Bedda, underscored the importance of capacity building in the successful implementation of PIDA projects.

By the second day, the teams focusing on the different thematic areas had consolidated all recommendations which the NEPAD Agency will use in the drafting of the proposal for PIDA CAP Phase two implementation.