Africa Development Bank and African Union Commission Sign $9.73M Grant Agreement to Boost Digital Market Development in Africa | African Development Bank

The African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Development Bank have signed a grant agreement to implement Phase 1 of the Upstream Project to Develop Digital Markets in Africa.

The signing ceremony took place on November 17 at AUC headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 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, signed the agreement on behalf of their institutions .

The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank approved the allocation of 7 million units of account ($9.73 million) in September this year. The project supports AUC’s implementation of digital economy projects to strengthen a continental single digital market. It also supports the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Zone and the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa.

The project comes against the backdrop of the Covid-19-induced recession that has exposed several gaps in the African digital economy ecosystem. It addresses these gaps. Phase 1 will run from 2023 to 2026. It will focus on three main components, namely: digital enablers; digital commerce and e-commerce acceptance; and support actions. In particular, the project will help strengthen 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 an important substrate to guide the creation of a single digital market on the African continent by 2030. The project will therefore contribute to the implementation of digital enablers – universal access to broadband infrastructure, sovereign African cloud, African digital market, etc. – Programs to promote e-commerce and digital trade for SMEs, micro-enterprises and start-ups . It will also help create a guiding ecosystem for digital trust, skills and networking of African experts.

Ambassador Muchanga expressed the AUC’s gratitude to the African Development Bank for its support. He said: “The Covid-19 pandemic underlined 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 great opportunities for integration and economic growth . .”

Dr. Kamara said the project would support African Development Bank implementation High 5 priorities as accelerators to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063 and the economic transformation of the continent The Africa we want.

He added: “It is important to create employment 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-African trade and boost economic growth.”