African Development Bank and Portuguese Government plan to unlock growth opportunities in Africa’s Lusophone countries

The African Development Bank is coordinating the implementation of an integrated development strategy for Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa to help unlock economic growth.

In preparation for the rollout of this initiative, the Bank and the Portuguese Government have signed an agreement to provide language training to African Development Bank staff interested in learning Portuguese, as well as professional conference translation services.

The language-learning cooperation agreement, signed by the Institute for Cooperation and the Portuguese Language (Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, I.P.) and the African Development Bank, also provides conditions for the translation and dissemination of the Bank’s standard project procurement and financial management documents into Portuguese.

As part of the Bank’s catalytic role, it is relying on the historical, cultural and language bonds that unite Africa’s Portuguese-speaking countries with Portugal and Brazil, to help stimulate greater economic ties, private-sector business growth and trade opportunities.

Additionally, the Bank has initiated a Compact for Development for the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP) with the Government of Portugal to help unlock growth opportunities, develop the potential of untapped natural resources and create local capacity to design and manage projects. This compact is planned to be signed at the Bank’s Annual Meetings, taking place from May 21-25, 2018 in Busan, Korea.

It was also mentioned that the Bank has plans for the introduction of de-risking instruments to help attract private investors to Portuguese-speaking African countries.

The Bank is planning to have a special session for lusophone investors at the Africa Investment Forum, scheduled for November 7-9, 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

See the press release here.