Adesina, Others Expected at AU Meeting in Addis Ababa

By Charles Ajunwa

The President of African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, is expected in Addis Ababa on Sunday, 10 February to take part in the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU).

Adesina, who is leading a high-level Bank delegation comprising the senior vice-president and sector directors, will co-chair, with His Majesty King Letsie III of Lesotho, the launch of the African Leaders for Nutrition (ALN) Continental Nutrition Accountability Scorecard.

The event, ‘A Call for Better Advocacy and Accountability for Nutrition Investments’, will be jointly launched with several partners including the ALN, the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Continental Nutrition Scorecard is the latest tool produced by the ALN to raise awareness and reinforce commitments by African governments to end malnutrition and promote healthy diets for children.

The First International Food Safety Conference, hosted jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the African Union (AU), kicks off on Tuesday 12 February. Adesina is chairing the conference which will address, among other topics, current and future challenges to food safety globally, as well as the African leaders’ commitment to scale up food safety in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Conference speakers are scheduled to include the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (incoming African Union chairman), the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame (outgoing African Union chairman), Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, FAO Director-General, Jose Graziano da Silva and WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Research and academia, representatives from international organisations , civil society and the private sector will also be in attendance.

In addition to these speaking engagements and other separate high-profile bilateral meetings, Adesina will have a packed schedule of meetings including high-level consultations with principals of the African Union Commission, Economic Commission for Africa, and the Africa Development Bank Joint Secretariat on how to accelerate the continent’s economic transformation.

The Secretariat was set up in 2016 to ensure joint planning among the three institutions to continue to advance Africa’s development agenda.