Ambassador at Large and Special Envoy for Energy Security at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vaclav Bartuska will participate as a speaker during this year’s Angola Oil&Gas (AOG) 2024 conference and exhibition.

Bartuska’s participation at AOG 2024 – taking place October 2-3 in Luanda under the theme Driving Exploration and Development Towards Increased Production in Angola – is expected to drive efforts towards economic diversification and multilateral development.

Organized by Energy Capital&Power, AOG is the largest oil and gas event on Angola. Taking place with the full support of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas; national oil company Sonangol; the ANPG; the African Energy Chamber; and the Petroleum Derivatives Regulatory Association, the event is a platform to sign deals and advance Angola’s oil and gas industry. To sponsor or participate as a delegate, please contact sales@energycapitalpower.com.

With the governments of the Czech Republic and Angola having recently met to increase cooperation in the areas of aviation and transport, healthcare, smart agriculture, mining and geological exploration, the two countries are well-positioned to benefit from mutual cooperation, investment protection and promotion.

Key topics of the meeting, which included the President of Angola João Manuel Lourenço and the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala were economic cooperation, support for Czech exports and investments and defense-industrial cooperation. It was noted during the meeting that the Czech Republic is interested in participating in the Lobito rail corridor project – a 1,300km railway from the port of Lobito to Angola’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

As such, Bartuska’s participation at AOG 2024 is poised to give a new impetus to the relations between the Czech Republic and Angola while providing opportunities for the countries to advance strategic partnerships and drive a new generation of economic ties between Europe and Africa.

For more information about AOG 2024, visit www.AngolaOilandGas.com.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Energy Capital&Power.

Invest Africa (www.InvestAfrica.com), a leading pan-African trade and investment platform, will host the 10th annual Africa Debate on 6th June at the Guildhall, London, under the theme of “Africa’s role in a changing global order.” The Africa Debate is London’s leading Africa-focused investment forum. 

Throughout the conference speakers will discuss and debate the continent’s trade and investment landscape, as well as its leadership position on the international stage. Programme highlights will include Samaila Zubairu, President and Chief Executive Officer, Africa Finance Corporation; Dr Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank Group; The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP, Deputy Foreign Secretary and Minister of State (Development and Africa), Foreign, Commonwealth&Development Office; H.E. Dr Musalia Mudavadi, Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Republic of Kenya; H.E. Dr Leila Benali, Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Kingdom of Morocco; Diana Layfield, Chair, British International Investment; Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice-President, Intra-African Trade Bank, Afreximbank; and Idris Elba, Actor, Filmmaker, Musician, Entrepreneur, and Activist; amongst other leaders from government and private enterprise. 

Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) is Headline Partner for the Forum, with other partners including Absa, Afreximbank, Africa HR Solutions, Arise IIP, Brand South Africa, Crown Agents Bank, DLA Piper, Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in the United Kingdom, Genesis Energy Group, IPT Africa, Moody’s Ratings, Plantations et Huileries du Congo, Standard Chartered, and Xcalibur Smart Mapping.

Samaila Zubairu, President and Chief Executive Officer, AFC said: “AFC is proud to once again be the Headline Partner for The Africa Debate, London’s leading Africa-focused investment forum. As the continent’s leading infrastructure solutions provider, AFC is committed to advancing Africa’s crucial role on the global stage – working with governments, private sector, and other investors to finance projects that drive rapid industrialisation on the continent and directly facilitate intra- and extra-African trade. We look forward to this milestone 10th edition of The Africa Debate – a staple on the calendar for Africa-focused investors and businesses alike.”

Chantelé Carrington, Chief Executive Officer, Invest Africa said: “Africa has long been heralded as the world’s final frontier for substantial growth and investment, but the actual influx of long-term investment has seldom mirrored this optimistic rhetoric. The continent has also contended with the hierarchical structures of the global order. However, perhaps more than ever before, African leaders are leveraging shifting global power dynamics to redefine their roles, and global leaders are awakening to the imperative of engaging more consistently – and substantively – with the continent. At The Africa Debate, we will explore these dynamics, including the continent’s role in everything from the global energy transition to global AI governance.

To attend the 10th edition of The Africa Debate and wider programme register here (https://apo-opa.co/3VlbHEp), use the discount code TAD_20 on the Last Minute Delegate ticket to save 20%. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Invest Africa.

About Invest Africa (www.InvestAfrica.com):
Invest Africa is a leading pan-African business platform that promotes trade and investment across the continent. With over sixty years of experience, our network is made up of more than 400 multinational corporations, private investors, fund managers, family offices, government bodies, policy makers and entrepreneurs. Together they share our desire to build opportunity across the African continent. As the trusted entry point into Africa, we support and connect business and investment through a unique range of services, from leading business conferences and bespoke trade and investment missions to sector-specific event programmes and consultancy projects. For more information: www.InvestAfrica.com.

About The Africa Debate (www. TheAfricaDebate.com):
The conference is London’s leading investment summit focused on Africa. Now in its 10th year, this edition will focus on Africa’s role in a changing global order, with speakers discussing and debating the continent’s trade and investment landscape, as well as its leadership position on the international stage. The event will convene global businesses, private and public investment bodies, thought leaders, and policy makers for a series of conversations on Africa’s role in the world. For more information: www. TheAfricaDebate.com.

East Africa is fastest growing region, West Africa to pick up, and Southern Africa to record slight increase in growth; Report proposes bold reforms of the global financial architecture, stronger African voice in MDBs.

African economies remain resilient, despite challenges that are testing economies worldwide. According to the latest African Development Bank Group’s African Economic Outlook (https://apo-opa.co/3KrFNjn), 41 countries on the continent are projected to experience stronger growth rates in 2024 than they did in 2023.

The report unveiled at the Bank’s Annual Meetings on Thursday in Nairobi, described Africa’s growth potential as ‘remarkable’. The continent will retain its 2023 ranking as the second fastest-growing region after developing Asia in 2024 and 2025. The theme of the 2024 AEO, “Driving Africa’s Transformation: The Reform of the Global Financial Architecture,” aligns with the Bank’s Annual Meetings’ theme.

African Development Bank President Dr Akinwumi Adesina said while the Bank was proud of the growth projections of many African countries as reflected in the report, it was not blind to the challenges. “Africa’s future is bright, but need to make sure we tackle governance, transparency, accountability, and management of our natural capital. We need to make sure resources are used for the benefit of the people of this continent… The kind of resilience we are talking about cannot happen unless we deal with the issue of climate change.”

He added: “We must make sure we are investing in our young people—in their skills, talents, entrepreneurship, and giving them tools. That is why I am excited about what we are doing with the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks.”

The report warns that Africa is off track to meet almost all of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

It argues that unless corrective action is taken, including to reverse the steepening poverty curve, Africa will be home to almost 9 out of 10 (or 87%) of the world’s extreme poor by 2030.

According to the African Economic Outlook, the rebound in Africa’s average growth includes a rise to 3.7% in 2024 and 4.3% in 2025, exceeding the projected global average of 3.2%. Of this figure, 17 African economies are projected to grow by more than 5 percent in 2024. The number could rise to 24 in 2025, as the pace of growth accelerates.

This growth trajectory is expected to surpass pre-2023 levels, with East Africa leading as the fastest-growing region (up to 3.4 percentage points). Other regions are also projected to witness moderate to robust growth.

In a presentation, Chief Economist and Vice President of the African Development Bank, Prof Kevin Chika Urama, underscored why strategic policies and firm political commitment are key to the effective use of resource wealth for domestic revenue generation.

He also described hard infrastructure, including roads, railways, and bridges, and soft infrastructure, including knowledge and institutional governance capacity, as “two wings of an aircraft”.

“Investing in productive infrastructure is key to accelerating Africa’s structural transformation,” he said.

Growth performance and outlook by region:

Growth prospects vary across Africa’s regions, reflecting differences in economic structure, commodity dependence, and policies.

East Africa, the continent’s fastest-growing region, will see real GDP growth rising from an estimated 1.5% in 2023 to 4.9% in 2024 and 5.7% in 2025. The downward revision of 0.2 percentage point for 2024 compared with the forecast in the January 2024 Africa’s Macroeconomic Performance and Outlook (MEO) (https://apo-opa.co/4bY0sqN) is due to larger-than-expected contractions in Sudan and South Sudan following the ongoing conflict in the former.

Growth in Central Africa is forecast to moderate from 4.3% in 2023 to 4.1% in 2024 before improving strongly to 4.7% in 2025. The upgraded forecast is due to expectations of stronger growth in Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo as a result of favourable metal prices.

Growth is projected to pick up in West Africa, rising from an estimated 3.6% in 2023 to 4.2% in 2024 and consolidating at 4.4% the following year. This is an upgrade of 0.3 percentage point for 2024 over the January MEO 2024 projections, reflecting stronger growth in the region’s large economies—Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal.

In North Africa, growth is projected to decline from an estimated 4.1% in 2023 to 3.6% in 2024 and 4.2% in 2025, with a downward revision of 0.3 percentage point for 2024 from the January 2024 MEO. Except for Libya and Mauritania, growth has been revised downward for all other countries in the region.

Growth in Southern Africa is projected to pick up slightly from an estimated 1.6% in 2023 to 2.2% in 2024 and firm up to 2.7% in 2025. The growth rates for 2024 and 2025 show an upgrade of 0.1 percentage point over the January 2024 projections, mainly reflecting a 0.7 percentage point increase in South Africa’s projected growth. Due to South Africa’s larger weight in the region, the upgraded growth forecast offset the combined effect of downward revisions in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

African Economic Outlook makes bold proposals to reform the global financial architecture

The African Economic Outlook 2024 calls for an overhaul of the global financial architecture to transform African economies. This includes giving Africa a greater voice in multilateral development banks and international financial institutions, reflecting its growing share of global gross domestic product and rich natural resources.

Adesina said, “Let’s be clear. By seeking to transform the global financial architecture, Africa is just asking for a fair share of access and availability of resources to build on our vast economic opportunities.”

The report highlights the glaring inadequacies of the current global financial system in closing Africa’s financing gap for structural transformation, estimated at US$402.2 billion annually between now and 2030. To rectify these disparities, the report proposes a bold agenda for reforming the global financial architecture, including in the five following key areas:

Leveraging Private Sector Financing: The African Economic Outlook advocates for greater private sector participation to complement public investments, particularly in areas with high social returns such as climate action and human capital development.

Simplifying the Global Climate Finance Architecture: The report calls for streamlining the global climate finance architecture to enhance coordination and facilitate access for African countries, which are disproportionately affected by climate change.

Reforming Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs): The AEO urges MDBs to revise their business models to provide long-term concessional financing at scale, to developing countries, bolstering their capital positions, channeling a portion of IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to MDBs and ensuring a healthy replenishment of the concessional windows of the African Development Bank and the World Bank—the African Development Fund and the International Development Association.

Streamlining Debt Resolution Mechanisms: Recognizing the slow and cumbersome nature of existing debt resolution mechanisms, the African Economic Outlook advocates for reforms to expedite debt workouts and ensure sustainable debt management, including innovative market-based solutions like “Brady bonds,” debt relief for climate purposes, and sovereign debt authority systems.

Enhancing Domestic Resource Mobilization: The report emphasizes the importance of strengthening domestic revenue mobilization through improved tax policies, enhancing efficiency in government revenue collection and utilization, combatting illicit financial flows and tax avoidance, and leveraging Africa’s abundant natural resources.

According to the report, “Domestic resource mobilization is good, but so is the prudent use of such resources. Countries should therefore strengthen capacity to improve public finance management”

Every year, the African Economic Outlook report provides timely evidence and analysis crucial for African policymakers, empowering them to make informed decisions.

2024 African Economic Outlook (https://apo-opa.co/3V6UQny)

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Pictures: (https://apo-opa.co/3KrFNzT)

Media contact:
Emeka Anuforo
Communication and External Relations
media@afdb.org

About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 34 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org  

­With Spain’s commitment of $2.3 billion in funding to South Africa and its recently announced support for green hydrogen projects in Mauritania, the country joins France, Germany, Italy, the EU and the UK as European nations step up their commitment to clean energy development in the African continent.

But is the private sector ready for the investment opportunities that could potentially double those commitments?

Renewable energy capacity in Africa has almost doubled in the last decade, but it’s not enough. A recent study from Climate Analytics indicates that Africa needs $100 billion a year in climate finance – five times current investment levels – to meet the renewable energy goals agreed at COP28.

As investors from nearly 90 countries around the world prepare to arrive in Barcelona for aef24, Simon Gosling, EnergyNet, said,

“The private sector has already demonstrated its willingness to commit billions to projects, but projects still aren’t moving fast enough.  

“It’s the industrialised nations that will be most affected if Africa cannot significantly increase its electrification rates and unlock the investment landscape that is inhibiting proven private sector players.

“World food security, access to minerals, textiles, and industrial growth are critical to future economic growth, health, and sustainability.  With Africa forecast to be home to a quarter of the world’s population under 25 years by 2050, red tape must be reduced, and projects must start happening at scale and pace.”  

This year’s theme, ‘Energy Systems for the Future – Balancing Africa’s Needs with Global Goals’ is set to tackle these barriers head on.  

Public and private sector stakeholders will spend almost a full half-day together, behind closed doors, discussing the challenges both sides are facing. All attending ministers and Vice Presidents, as well as heads of utilities (national and municipal), regulatory bodies, DFIs, and private investors, will be in the room.

The new Corporate Leadership Roundtable will also give private sector developers and investors a platform to debate the opportunities and challenges they face in moving projects forward, sparking vital discussions before they meet with Ministers and utilities to establish an improved path for Africa’s energy sector. 

This innovative format will create the most high-level sessions ever held at the Africa Energy Forum, where business leaders can spend exclusive, quality time with public sector counterparts.   

Key topics on the agenda across the four days include the potential of hydrogen on the continent; grid management; energy storage and distribution; the future roles of gas and mining; advancing renewable energy projects, distributed power, and commercial and industrial (C&I) projects to accelerate universal access; navigating power markets; and Africa’s broader energy transition.

Among the nearly 2,500 delegates attending, an unprecedented number of ministers from across Africa will be in attendance, including ministers from Nigeria, Egypt, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Senegal, Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Togo, Gabon, Central African Republic and Zambia.

“As specialists in renewable energy with transformative projects in Nigeria and Angola, for the second consecutive year, we are proud to be the forum sponsor of this imperative event for Africa.” said Adam Cortese, CEO, Sun Africa.     

Wale Shonibare, Director, Energy Finance Solutions, Policy&Regulations, African Development Bank (AfDB), added: “The African Development Bank’s participation at the Africa Energy Forum underscores our commitment to sustained dialogue, collaboration, and partnerships to transform the energy landscape across Africa.

“In Barcelona, the Bank will showcase initiatives aimed at innovating finance, delivering technical assistance, and mobilizing investments to achieve universal access to modern, affordable, and reliable energy in Africa.”    

As global stakeholders in energy, including the World Bank, Engie, Power Africa, and TotalEnergies, return to aef for 2024, they will be joined by new, significant partners such as Pele Green Energy and Juwi Renewable Energy, as the forum continues to expand its reach and influence year on year.

 The stage is set. 

Website: https://www.Africa-Energy-Forum.com/

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of EnergyNet Ltd..

Media contact:
For media information please contact:
Poliana Sperandio
poliana@energynet.co.uk

Boilerplate:
About EnergyNet: 
FACILITATING ENERGY INVESTMENT IN FAST-GROWING ECONOMIES – EnergyNet has produced investment forums and executive dialogues for Africa and Latin America’s power sectors for the last 25 years – in Europe, the USA, Asia and across Africa and Latin America.

We work with governments and national utilities to facilitate investment summits where credible international investors can build relationships with public sector stakeholders to advance access to power.

Best known for the Africa Energy Forum, the longest-serving business development meeting place for senior-level decision makers in Africa’s power sector, other leading investment summits that provide strategic perspectives on the investment landscape and project preparation include the Tanzania Energy Cooperation Summit, East Africa Energy Cooperation Summit, West Africa Energy Cooperation Summit, H2 Africa, Offshore Technology Africa, Powering Africa Summit, Latin American Energy Forum and Latin American&Caribbean Gas Conference and Exhibition. YES! Youth Energy Summit and YES! Youth Energy Day are part of the portfolio, with a focus on creating a platform and network to boost the skills, connections and business readiness of a new generation of African energy leaders.

Having this focus on public and private sector partnerships provides us with a valuable lens through which we can offer independent perspectives and support the business development activities of companies from around the world operating in these fast-growing markets. 

Headquarters: London, UK

For further information, please visit our website https://EnergyNet.co.UK/