UAE participates in Paris Summit on Financing of African Economies

Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar, UAE Minister of State, participated in the Paris Summit on the Financing of African Economies which convened in the French capital and brought together African leaders and the heads of multilateral lenders to find ways of financing African economies hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Summit's communique shed light on the efforts made by the participating countries to provide impoverished African economies with much-needed economic stimulus and strengthen their governments' ability to achieve sustainable economic recovery while underpinning private-sector-driven growth. The communique set out a response plan based on addressing financing needs to support a sustainable, green recovery and the underpinning of private-sector-driven growth.

It emphasised on the need to accelerating the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and creating the fiscal breathing room for African nations.

The communique added that achieving sustainable and comprehensive growth in the continent specially in the fields of education, health, social protection and infrastructure requires mobilisation of resources; efficient management of public debt and spending; improving corporate governance and financial integrity; restructuring sovereign debt; utilising IMF special drawing rights to help build reserve buffers for African states; and benefiting from the resources available in other international financial institutions.

The participating countries pledged to empower the health and social systems as well as the education and training institutions of African nations, considering their central roles in driving productivity and ensuring economic resilience.