The African Development Bank (AfDB) and ICEX Spain Trade and Investment, a Spanish public agency, have signed a cooperation agreement to mobilize Spain’s organized private sector (OPS) investments for urban development in Africa.
Specifically, the pact will foster cooperation between the Spanish business entity and the AfDB’s Urban and Municipal Development Fund (UMDF), a multi-donor trust fund hosted by the AfDB, as well as enable the Spanish public agency to mobilize Spanish expertise for African cities, including cross participation in events, data and knowledge sharing.
According to the development finance bank, the agreement was sealed at the sidelines of the “Jornadas Multilaterales”, an event promoting dialogue between Spanish entrepreneurs and Ivorian economic actors organized by ICEX in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire this month.
Speaking on the collaboration between the bank and the Spanish public agency, AfDB’s Manager of the Urban Development Division, Stefan Atchia, said: “The Bank is very pleased with the Spanish-African partnership, especially its collaboration between ICEX and the UMDF, supporting project development of urban Infrastructure and Planning.”
In her remarks, CEO of ICEX, María Peña Mateos, said: “Spain has large experience with innovation and technology for urban services, which we want to make available for African cities.
“Moreover, the memorandum has agreed to facilitate the African Development Bank’s participation in the Smart Cities Expo World Congress, to be held in Barcelona in November, to learn more about the objectives and technologies related to urban development, inclusiveness and sustainability”, she added.
The partners disclosed that signing the partnership document would form the foundation for a long-standing alignment of interests between the two parties, according to its terms.
The AfDB’s UMDF is promoting sustainable, resilient and inclusive urban planning in the bank’s member countries through the facilitation of infrastructure project financing and implementation across Africa while ICEX is engaged in fostering Spanish companies’ participation in projects promoting sustainable development.
