Ethiopia: Making Addis Ababa a Competitive African City

An African mayoral event, with the theme of “leveraging cities and municipalities for national development,” was held on the sidelines of the November 11-13 Africa Investment Forum in Marrakesh. Attendees included Mayor Adanech Abiebie of Addis Ababa, Jamie Cooper, president & Chair of Big Win Philanthropy, Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Kesete Admasu CEO of Big Win and others.

On the sidelines of the ongoing Africa Investment Forum, Mayor Adanech Abiebie, and Mr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank Group, held a discussion about the transformation of Addis Ababa.  At this High-Level African Mayoral Event, Mayor Adanech Abiebie also addressed the development initiatives and lessons learned by Addis Ababa city about revenue collection and financial management systems with other African cities.

In her speech, Mayor Adanech highlighted Addis Ababa’s transformational capacity, asserting growing confidence in the city’s future. The Mayor extended an invitation to leaders and representatives of continental and international agencies taking part in the African Investment Forum to invest in Addis Ababa. 

The African Development Bank launched a $2.5 billion municipal financing program at the forum, offering technical grants and loans to cities. The mayor of Addis Ababa presented her city’s development projects as ready-made to benefit from various investments, receiving a favorable response. The forum also covered the opportunities and challenges of the overall development of cities as well as the potential of financial resources for the development of urbanization in Africa.

In his remarks, Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), emphasized the forum was “a start of a new partnership between financial institutions, mayors, local and federal governments”.  The Africa Investment Forum has raised interest in investments since its founding in 2018. The main attraction is the yearly Market Days event, a three-day gathering that brings together thousands of international investors, chiefs of development financing institutions, and executives from industries and governments to move important investment deals closer to completion.

The mayor of Addis Ababa stated that her administration intends to make use of every resource at its disposal in order to fulfill its objective of transforming Addis Ababa into a competitive and appealing metropolis.