Your Arrow Can Pierce the Sky, But Ours Has Gone into Orbit

On Wednesday, 15 January, China and the United States agreed to suspend their full-scale trade war. From February 2018, the United States placed tariffs on Chinese goods that entered the US market, and then China retaliated. This tit-for-tat game continued for almost two years, causing massive disruption in the global value chain. In October 2019, the International Monetary Fund’s G-20 Surveillance Note reported that the global GDP suffered by a 0.8% drop merely because of the tariffs on goods such as aluminium, steel, soybeans, and car parts between the United States and China. Western attacks on Chinese 5G technology – and on the tech firm Huawei – are part of the pressure on China to buckle before the US-led order. But China did not bend. As a prelude to the ‘phase one’ deal, the United State Treasury Department stopped calling China a ‘currency manipulator’, a term that has haunted China’s for decades.

UN expresses deep distress over terror attacks

The United Nations Country Team in Kenya is deeply distressed by the rising cases of terrorist attacks on schools, teachers and learners, especially in the north-eastern regions of Kenya. While we stand in solidarity with the affected communities, we reiterate that acts of terror and hate are even more egregious when they target innocent, unarmed civilians including children.

Deep clean: How ‘blue finance’ can save our oceans

Cleaning the world’s oceans and keeping them clean is a gargantuan task that will involve far-reaching projects backed by innovative forms of financing

ECOWAS endorses Adesina for second term as President of the African Development Bank

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has endorsed the candidacy of African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina for a second term at the helm of the institution.

Looking back at 2019: Key moments

The year 2019 was a year of exciting firsts for the African Development Bank Group. The year was marked by innovation and several new milestones that brought us closer to the “Africa we want.”

A tribute to a champion of the deprived

(The Daily Star) - I can think of few people who have done more for the world's deprived population than Fazle Hasan Abed. His contribution spans Bangladesh where BRAC, the organisation he founded in 1972, services close to 10 million of the country's underprivileged households. Through Abed's commitment to serve the world's deprived, BRAC has now extended its reach across the globe. It has invested its experience in rehabilitating the tsunami victims in Sri Lanka and the war-ravaged population in Afghanistan where two of its officials, working in high risk areas, were held hostage by the Taliban. BRAC is now reaching out on a large scale to serve the underprivileged populations in various regions of Africa. It has been actively engaged in Pakistan, Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Liberia and Sierra Leone. BRAC has even extended its reach across the Atlantic to Haiti.

COP 25: African Development Bank urges African nations to persist with climate change ambitions as marathon talks end in Madrid

The African Development Bank has urged the continent’s nations to stay the course on climate action, after a marathon session of talks at the twenty-fifth Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 25) in Madrid.

African Development Bank joins forces with international organisations to help developing countries build resilience to extreme weather

The African Development Bank has joined forces with 11 other international organizations to assist developing countries to build resilience against the impact of natural disasters caused by extreme weather.

COP 25: ‘Africa’s future depends on solidarity’ Leaders and development partners rally around climate change goals

There was standing room only as ministers, diplomats, activists and journalists gathered at the IFEMA conference centre in Madrid to mark Africa Day at the COP 25 climate meeting.

The Chairman of the Geneva Centre, Ambassador Ghazi Jomaa, calls upon Empowering the Youth to Stand Up for Human Rights

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights": the words of the first Article of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights are perhaps the most resonant and cited of all international agreements ever signed. Year after year, we commemorate the Human Rights Day, celebrating human rights, insisting that they are inalienable entitlements to all people, not gender nor age-specific, not particular to any ethnic or religious group. And yet, the Geneva Centre’s Chairman Ambassador Ghazi Jomaa underlines, the international community is still confronted with its chronic problems and human rights abuses, oftentimes aggravated by protracted conflicts, expanding poverty, accelerating climate change impacts and beyond. Furthermore, he observes that ideologies anchored in hate and prejudice continue to undermine human rights worldwide and attack our shared humanity. In such times, it has become vital to promote mutual understanding, tolerance and compassion, leading to empathy and celebration of diversity, which are the true gateways to lasting peace.

Swedish Energy Agency and Global Green Growth Institute partner to establish Article 6 Activities

MADRID – 4th December 2019 – Today, the Swedish Energy Agency (SEA) and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) signed a cooperation agreement on the sidelines of COP25 to launch the Mobilizing Article 6 Trading Structures (MATS) Program, a pilot project aimed at establishing Article 6 Activities under the Paris Agreement. The objective of this joint collaboration is to catalyze international trading of mitigation outcomes in support of the increased climate ambitions needed under the Paris Agreement. 

African Development Bank launches digital tool to help African youth learn to code

The African Development Bank and technology firm Microsoft today launched the ‘Coding for Employment’ digital training platform, an online tool to provide digital skills to African youth, wherever they are across the continent.

Government of Russia announces food aid for Kenya

The Government of Russia has announced a voluntary contribution of 1 million US Dollars to the World Food Programme of the United Nations for food assistance to Kenya. WFP will coordinate with the Kenyan authorities the distribution of food supplies to reach families most in need of assistance.

Hola, Madrid! African Development Bank takes the continent’s climate agenda to COP25 in Spain

The African Development Bank will on Monday kick off a campaign to plead the continent’s case at the world’s leading climate change conference.

2019 Global Gender Summit marks concrete gains and actionable goals to surge ahead on gender equality

“We’ve known it from the beginning that equality and women’s empowerment is the true way for sustainable development,” Rwanda’s Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Solina Nyirahabimana told reporters at a 2019 Global Gender Summit press conference on Tuesday.