A new road corridor between Addis Ababa and Nairobi is increasing trade and employment opportunities. Funded with the help of the African Development Bank, this road is making a difference in the lives of many Africans.

A media breakfast session was held on PIDA Continental Business Network (CBN) during the 3rd PIDA Week 2017 in Swakopmund, Namibia, from 10 to 14 December 2017. The session focused on relating to the media fraternity how PIDA remains the key to unlocking Africa’s infrastructure potential, showcase PIDA’s achievements and to acknowledge the advocacy role of media in promoting PIDA and CBN.

High Level Round-table took place during PIDA Week 2017 in Sawkopmund, Namibia, in December 2017, on Job Creation, Trade Facilitation and Economic Transformation through Regional Infrastructure. Infrastructure development in conjunction with job creation and trade facilitation is a key component of the African Union’s call to action formulated within the Agenda 2063 . To contribute to this cause, the overarching focus of this session is to map and discuss actionable interventions to increase jobs (e.g. via the PIDA Job Creation Toolkit) and intra-African trade (e.g. via Move Africa) to therewith trigger economic transformation.

The third PIDA Week 2017, held during 10-14 December 2017, was hosted by the Government of Namibia and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The event provided a platform for stakeholders to engage in accelerating and synergising their efforts to: (1) accelerate projects preparation and implementation;(2) mobilise adequate financial and technical resources for projects; (3) increase private sector participation in PIDA implementation; and (4) mobilise Member States to integrate PIDA projects into their national development plans.

Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy at the African Union says Africa needs about 90 billion dollars annually for the next 10 years to bridge its Infrastructure deficit.

Source: CNBCAfrica

“Trade Not Aid” has been the advocacy mantra for African integration in recent times but at the center of achieving this is an efficient infrastructure. Despite Africa’s surplus natural resources, human capital and swift progress in urbanization, poor infrastructure remains a key obstacle to its development. This episode of Africa Trade-lines moves conversations to why Africa must build functional trans-boundary infrastructure for efficient intra-continental trade.

Source: CNBCAfrica