Tony Chukwunyem 
President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has called for bold reforms from development partners to tackle challenges, such as climate change, global financial shocks and growing food insecurity, which he said, are threatening Africa and hampering achievement of global development goals.
He stated this at the meeting of Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) heads with the G20 Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, held on the sidelines of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings in Washington.
“We need bolder resolve, innovative and practical solutions, and stronger coordinated action at scale,” he said, adding that: “Our strength lies in consolidating our collaboration, mobilizing resources at speed and scale, and deploying them where they are needed most.”
US Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, had earlier last week, spoken on the Evolution of MDBs and their significant achievements in the development agenda for Africa and the world.
She highlighted the increase in May of the Bank’s callable capital, the Mission 300 joint initiative with the World Bank and the African Development Bank’s work on addressing fragility in various parts of the continent.
“Outside of crisis contexts, countries are increasingly addressing the underlying drivers of fragility and conflict, such as in the case of an African Development Bank loan to the Democratic Republic of Congo to invest in increasing agricultural productivity in communities that had been displaced,” Yellen said.
