Rabat: Morocco’s Economy and Finance Minister Nadia Fettah urged collective efforts to enhance sustainable development financing in Africa and unlock the continent’s growth potential. Speaking at the 5th Africa Investment Forum (AIF) in Rabat, the minister emphasized the need for greater access to funding to achieve the UN’s 2030 Agenda and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
According to Agence Marocaine De Presse, the minister highlighted the critical role of securing necessary financing to achieve the goals of these agendas. “The much-anticipated rise of our continent relies heavily on our nations’ ability to secure the necessary financing to achieve the goals of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the African Union’s Agenda 2063,” she stated at the forum’s opening.
She underscored the importance of international financial institutions strengthening their collaboration to mobilize more private capital, complementing public resources to provide significant funding for African economies. “While commen
dable efforts have been made by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to attract more private capital, we must acknowledge that there is still much to be done to enable the private sector to fully play its role in bridging the financing gap for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” the minister remarked.
Minister Fettah called on development partners to strengthen their support for structural reforms led by African governments, focusing on improving project planning and fostering financially sustainable initiatives. “These reforms should be accompanied by measures to consolidate macroeconomic fundamentals and improve the business environment, which would ultimately change risk perceptions and challenge historical biases against Africa, allowing the full potential of private financing to be harnessed,” she advocated.
She further noted that global cooperation stakeholders should collectively explore creating a more effective global financial safety net, enabling rapid and automatic access to liquidity wh
ile reducing investment risk premiums. This aligns with the emerging global consensus on the benefits of reforming the global financial architecture, stressing the importance of addressing the financing needs of middle-income African countries.
Minister Fettah urged development partners to enhance strategic collaboration and operate more cohesively to deliver greater impact in addressing the challenges facing African nations, such as rising debt risks, high youth unemployment, energy access, food insecurity, climate change, and future health crises. She emphasized that partnership development must be central to MDBs’ long-term strategies to execute transformative projects.
She underscored that the 2024 Africa Investment Forum offers a unique opportunity to “enrich our collective thinking, explore innovative solutions to persistent challenges, and strengthen the partnerships needed to achieve our aspirations,” reaffirming Morocco’s support for the AIF and international efforts to advance Africa’s development
and emergence, in line with King Mohammed VI’s vision for a prosperous and self-reliant Africa.
The opening session was attended by Minister Nadia Fettah and AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina. The 2024 Africa Investment Forum, under the theme “Leveraging Innovative Partnerships for Scale,” positions itself as an essential platform for strategic investments supporting Africa’s economic transformation and providing direct access to transaction opportunities across the continent.
Since its inception in 2018, the AIF has generated nearly $180 billion in investment interest for major projects in energy, infrastructure, healthcare, and agriculture, cementing its status as Africa’s premier investment platform for global investors.