The 42nd meeting of the Committee of Experts of the Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development is underway with a call for countries to transition into inclusive, low carbon, and resource-efficient economies by tapping into home-grown innovative solutions for financing.
The annual ECA Conference of Ministers is being held on the theme of ‘Financing the transition to inclusive green economies in Africa: Imperatives, opportunities, and policy options’ in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe until the 5th of March, 2024.
Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister of Zimbabwe, Mthuli Ncube said with 127 million hectares of potentially irritable land of which only around 13 percent of this land is currently being used for irrigation, ‘it is unfortunate that Africa is not leveraging its resources, including land.’
‘We have vast water bodies to irrigate our rich soils; all we need is investment in advanced irrigation technology and enough funding to climate-proof agriculture so
that we become food-secure,’ said Ncube.
Antonio Pedro, Deputy Executive Secretary at the ECA indicated that since the last Conference of Ministers, the world has fallen deeper into economic fragility, climate change, conflict, and distrust. Sadly, Africa has not been spared from these global trends.
‘We must accelerate the adoption of just and sustainable transitions, which require long-term structural changes and adequate investment,’ said Pedro.
African countries, he said, have the ability to create their own solutions to solve their problems. This should be a collective focus as in the continued fight to reform global systems.
‘We have, therefore, a unique opportunity to actively transform our countries by transitioning into inclusive, low carbon, and resource-efficient economies,’ he stressed.
The ECA Deputy Executive Secretary highlighted the key transformative areas that can have catalytic and multiplier effects across all the SDGs including the urgent need to transform Africa’s food systems by p
rioritizing the development of regional value chains, de-risking investment and fast-tracking the implementation of the AfCFTA. These measures will help to insulate the continent from global food security shocks.
He also stressed the need to enhance energy access and affordability – Less than 2 percent of global clean energy investments flow to Africa. ‘We need to embrace the transition to affordable renewable energy by making the most of our solar, wind and geothermal resources as well as our green hydrogen potential.”
Source: Ethiopian News Agency
