Addis Ababa, April 19, 2024 (Addis Walta) The current Chairperson of the Horn of Africa Initiative (HOAI) and Ethiopian Minister of Finance, Ahmed Shide, calls development partners to continue the resource mobilization effort.
Co-chairing the 20th Ministerial meeting of HOAI with Victoria Kwakwa, Regional Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa in Washington DC on the sidelines of the World Bank IMF spring meetings in Washington DC, Ahmed Shide welcomed the growing interest from additional partners, including the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), the Saudi Fund for Development, and representatives of US and Japan special envoys.
He also calls for the observers to formalize their engagement through the HOAI Participation Framework.
The chairperson expressed his appreciation on the successes of resource mobilization effort since 2019 and underscored the importance of further strengthening the endeavors.
The session also looked into strategies for boosting the financing of the remaining lending pipeline, which includes integrating proposals from South Sudan.
“The HoAI original pipeline of projects is yet to be fully funded compared to the needs. Thus, we need to redouble our resource mobilization efforts,” Ahmed Shide stated.
The Horn of Africa Initiative (HoAI), established in 2019, serves as a collaborative platform involving countries in the Horn of Africa, including Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, and Sudan.
HOAI primary focus on promoting economic integration, the initiative targets priority areas such as infrastructure development, trade facilitation, investment, human development, and resilience.