The African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) have signed a grant agreement to implement Phase 1 of the African Union Commission’s Upstream Project for Digital Market Development.
The signing ceremony was held on November 17 at the AUC Headquarters in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. The agreement was signed on behalf of their institutions by the AUC Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry, and Minerals, Ambassador Albert M. Muchanga, and the African Development Bank’s Deputy Director General for the East Africa Region, Abul B. Kamara.
The African Development Bank’s board of directors approved the grant of 7 million Units of Account ($ 9.73 million) in September of this year. The project helps the AUC implement digital economy projects to create a continental single digital market. It also supports the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa.
The project is taking place against the backdrop of the Covid-19-induced recession, which has revealed several gaps in the African digital economy ecosystem. It fills these gaps. The first phase lasts from 2023 to 2026. It will be divided into three parts: digital enablers, digital trade and e-commerce adoption, and support actions. The project will specifically assist in strengthening the frameworks (strategic, policy, regulatory, and conceptual) and cross-cutting (gender, climate change, and resilience) dimensions for the development of Africa’s digital economy.
These frameworks are critical to establishing a single digital market across the African continent by 2030. As a result, the project will help to implement digital enablers such as universal access to broadband infrastructure, a sovereign African cloud, and an African digital market, as well as e-commerce and digital trade promotion programs for medium, small, and micro enterprises and start-ups. It will also contribute to the development of a favorable ecosystem for digital trust, skills, and African expert networks.
Ambassador Muchanga expressed the AUC’s gratitude to the African Development Bank for its support. He said: “The Covid-19 pandemic underscored the importance of digital technologies and the digital economy as a whole, and in that regard, Africa should think big when it comes to digital development, digital economy and the grand opportunities on integration and economic growth.”
Dr. Kamara said the project would support the implementation of the African Development Bank’s High 5 priorities as accelerators to achieve Agenda 2063 targets and the continent’s economic transformation to get The Africa We Want.
He added: “It is important to create employment opportunities for millions of young Africans, which is essential for the stability and prosperity of the continent. The digital transformation of economies offers new opportunities to increase intra-Africa trade and boost economic growth.”
