The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said Africa needs more large sacle investment from other continents to boost economic productivity in the continent.
Mr Jean-Paul Adam, Director for Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management, UNECA said this at the close of the Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development in Niamey, Niger.
“There has been a lot of realism in saying what Africa needs to do and we have been very clear where to invest.
“Even when we raise more money by Africans themselves, the continent still need support from outside continent and we need the investment to come in large scale.
“Less than two per cent of global investments in renewable energy have happened in Africa over the last two decades.
“If we accelerate that investment in energy, for example, in Africa, that is a win-win. It brings value for the investor and it transforms Africa.”
The theme of the forum was “Accelerating development and diffusion of emerging technologies for a green, inclusive and resilient Africa”.
Adam said the forum was honest, by African countries acknowledging they needed to mobilise domestic resources themselves and not be dependent on outside resources.
More so, he said the forum aimed to create a platform for acceleration for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“And by focusing on a few SDGs, there has been an attempt to identify those catalysers that allow further acceleration.
“The first catalyst is the availability of finance and the UN Secretary-General outlined the principle of SDG stimulus.
“We have to dramatically increase the amount of money towards the SDGs framework to attract investment,” he said.
The director also said there needed to be a strong policy to attract investment.
“There needs to be a strong policy framework, for example, with energy. If the policy is not right, it will be difficult to attract investment.
“If you invest in energy, it will be one of the biggest boosts to economic productivity in the continent.
“If we can deliver and provide that level of investment, this will be the trampoline for a lot more acceleration of development,” he said.
Adam also identified clean water and sanitation as one of the factors that provided development.
“We looked at partnerships to address the issue of financing.
“All of this is framed in how we address the economic model of Africa, SDG 9 on sustainable industrialisation allowing for sustainable value chains that create more jobs to address the needs of the continent in a longer term,” he said.
The forum was declared open by the President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum Tuesday and closed on Thursday.
The forum was organised by UNECA with the government of Niger, and with the collaboration of the AUC, AfDB and entities of the UN system.
It was attended by African ministers, and senior officials responsible for the environment and sustainable development, finance, planning, economic and social development, water, energy, industry, infrastructure, urban planning and land management.
Other African ministers and senior officials of education, statistics, the digital economy, science and technology were also in attendance.
Also, heads and members of delegations of the parliaments of member states of the AU and experts representing governments and intergovernmental organisations, the private sector and civil society were present at the forum.
