Opening statement by Mr. Carlos Lopes at the Dakar financing summit for Africa’s infrastructure: Dakar financing summit for Africa’s infrastructure

Abstract

Opening Statement by Mr. Carlos Lopes, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA at the Dakar Financing Summit for Africa’s Infrastructure. Mr. Lopes, on his remarks highlighted that, the importance of infrastructure investments to economic growth is well established. Africa now has a comprehensive long-term development plan for its infrastructure development. This provides a coherent platform not only for action at the national level, but also for engagement with the private sector and development partners. This Dakar Financing Summit will help put some of the recommendations in that study into action. We continue to need strong regional arrangements to coordinate and harmonize policies for the effective mobilization of resources for infrastructure development. A good starting point is to identify the issues and enact rules and regulations for such purpose including public-private partnerships, deregulation and streamlining of administrative processes and simplification of related procedures.