UNITAR and BADEA Reaffirm their Commitment to Accelerate Capacity Development to Alleviate Poverty in Africa

20 September 2018, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR and The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) renewed their commitment to deliver capacity development across the Sub-Saharan Africa to support inclusive and sustainable economic development and stimulate the contribution of Arab capital to African development with a view to alleviate poverty.

The bilateral meeting held at the BADEA Headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan was attended by the Director General of BADEA, H.E. Dr Sidi Ould Tah and Mr Alexander Mejia, Director of the Division for People and Social Inclusion, and Director-ad-Interim of the Division for Prosperity of UNITAR.

The meeting allowed UNITAR and BADEA to review the past achievements, take stock on on-going projects and set the tone of their collaboration for the next couple of years with special focus on private sector development and export promotion.

According to Mr Mejia, “private sector development and export promotion has been at the center of our agenda. UNITAR is very pleased to join BADEA in working on the ground with the people who can leverage the potential of exports from both sides. The way to fight poverty is exactly that - to join forces and work with the people that need help, so they can maximize the potential and the competitiveness that all of us have in ourselves.”

Over the last 5 years, the BADEA-UNITAR partnership provided opportunities for key African officials to participate regional training and fora to strengthen their capacity to outline the economic prospects of Sub-Saharan African countries in a globalized environment, to acquire tools and methodologies for deeper analysis, to discuss the interlinkages between trade, finance, investment and development, and to sketch out strategies for responsible and sustainable economic development.

Mr Mejia reiterated that “UNITAR's role as the principal training arm of the United Nations System motivates us to partner with BADEA, to empower and bring capacity to alleviate poverty, and share prosperity across Africa. We need to empower the actors and stakeholders on the ground and that's why capacity development is an essential part of our work.”

Several training programmes on Finance and Investment in Africa; Development of Public Private Partnership; Microcredit in Africa; Financial negotiation, management of public investment projects, and domestic debt management; Private Sector Development; and Strengthening the Project Monitoring Capacities have been jointly conducted by UNITAR and BADEA for the benefit of over 600 officials from the Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone-speaking African countries.

About BADEA

The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) was established pursuant to the resolution of the 6th Arab Summit Conference at Algiers (28th November 1973). The Bank began operations in March 1975. BADEA is a financial institution owned by eighteen Arab countries members of the League of Arab States (LAS) which signed its Establishing Agreement in 18th February 1974. The Bank is an independent International Institution enjoying full international legal status and complete autonomy in administrative and financial matters. It is governed by the provisions of its Establishing Agreement and the principles of international law. The Bank’s Headquarters is located in Khartoum, the capital of the Republic of the Sudan. For more information about BADEA, please see: www.badea.org

Photo 1: Mr Alexander Mejia meeting the Director General of BADEA, H.E. Dr Sidi Ould Tah in Khartoum, Sudan.

Photo 2: UNITAR-BADEA meeting at the BADEA Headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan.

Video 1: Interview of Mr Alexander Mejia by BADEA