EC to lobby for more funding for Africa
THE European Commission will be proposing to European Union member-states to increase financial allocation made available to Africa, with stronger focus on growth investments and job creation, EU head of delegation, Alessandro Mariani has disclosed.
Mr. Mariani said there would be a specific allocation for the implementation of the EU external investment plan with special preference for increased investment on the African continent.
He was speaking during the opening ceremony of the meeting of the thirty seventh Inter- Governmental committee in Lusaka yesterday.
“The EU external investment plan marks a new approach for eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development by leveraging private finance our contribution of 4.1 billion Euro for the entire initiative open to Africa, will leverage up to 44 billion euro investment,” Mr. Mariani said.
He said the European Union will continue to support economic integration in the African region based on the priorities and commitment from all levels of the COMESA member-states that are indeed responsible for the domestication of the regional agenda.
Mr. Mariani stressed that the concept of the ownership which is of paramount importance for the sustainable regional economic integration was important for its development.
On the theme of the meeting which is “towards digital economic integration, Mr. Mariani said digital technology facilitates and interconnectivity has a key role to play in the achievements of sustainable development.
Meanwhile, Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister, Margret Mwanakatwe said as much as policies had been developed to improve the COMESA integration agenda, implementation remained a challenge.
Ms. Mwanakatwe said implementation of work programmes is essentially contingent upon the availability of funding.