The Federal Government on Wednesday called for deeper ties with China and France to boost investment in infrastructural development and Climate Change across Africa.
Amb. Bolaji Akinremi, Director, Economic, Trade and Investment, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said this in Abuja.
He spoke on the sideline of the virtual meeting centered on preparation for the Africa Infrastructure, Climate Change and Investment Summit (AICIS) + Exhibition, to hold from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, 2023 in Washington DC, U.S.
He described the summit initiative as a worthy idea to promote investment in climate change and infrastructure development, saying such countries should be engaged to achieve targets.
Akinremi said, “You must take along those who have been part of this from the beginning, so you need to engage those countries.
You need to talk to China when it comes to investment, because when it comes to infrastructure which we need, China has been there for us.
“So, we must bear in mind that China has been a giant, in terms of financing infrastructural development, even outside Africa and this has also set good record.
“When you look at how China has developed, in terms of infrastructure, they are few countries that beat them.
“May be country like Japan, but in terms of modern infrastructure you will have China there.”
The director said there were lots of linkages between infrastructure development and climate change.
He also advised that measures be taken to deepen ties with France in the area of climate change investment, to achieve meaningful growth.
“When it comes to investment generally, particularly climate change, France is leading in this area.
“Talk about innovative financing, you cannot leave the country out of that equation, you need to leverage what they have done.
“This is why I spoke about the African Development Bank, they do infrastructure and power; you also have to talk about Afrexim Bank.
“These are institutions already doing things in these area, which becomes easy for you to invite them and get ideas about what they have done and develop it.
“They are existing building blocs you can leverage on to involve other countries, to bring participants and to have country representatives,” he added.
Speaking, Moses Owharo, Chairman, Planning and organizing Committee of AICIS, said the meeting was designed to enable the participants strategize and finalize arrangements.
According to him, the event is the third of its kind, in the bid to ensure that Africa benefits from climate change and infrastructure development investment.
“Originally we did not focus on climate change, but infrastructure, mining, trade and investment.
“Climate change has become a global issue and unavoidable in our generation, so we have to integrate climate change.
“The objective is to ensure Africa benefits from the trend of climate change initiatives,” he said.
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