The Government of Ghana in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the African Development Bank will convene a high-level conference ‘Financing for Development’, in Accra, Ghana, on 30-31 May, under the theme 'Infrastructure for Growth – The Energy Challenge'.

Participants will include African ministers of finance as well as ministers of Energy and senior officials from the donor community. The main focus of the meeting will be directed at the energy sector, particularly its financing needs and how to maximise its contribution to the growth agenda required to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the 2015 target date.

Energy plays a critical role in advancing efforts to achieve the MDGS and improving the lives of poor people across the world. Lack of access to adequate affordable, reliable, safe and environmentally benign energy is a severe constraint on development.

The meeting is therefore expected to come up with sustainable approaches to improving energy access and the complimentary financing options, including viable private-public partnerships.

At the same time, the Accra Conference will take stock of progress achieved by African countries and donors in respect of the undertakings and commitments made at recent high-level meetings in Gleneagles, Abuja and Singapore. In that regard, particular attention will be paid to the commitments made in the areas of costed multi-year educational plans, financing of education, and mainstreaming of education in national budgets.

For further information on the Accra Conference as well as an ECA perspective on the current financing for development issues and challenges in Africa, go to the websites below:

http://www.uneca.org/atpc/Work%20in%20progress/48.pdf

Background

Many African countries are confronted with development challenges. Key among these is the lack of basic infrastructure to drive the development process. As part of efforts to overcome these challenges, African ministers of Finance met at a first conference in Abuja, Nigeria in May 2006 to dialogue on the way forward to address these developmental issues.

The Abuja meeting marked an important milestone in international discussions on development finance. Discussions dwelt largely on the challenges remaining in converting aid commitments into development, and ways to operationalise the 2005 Gleneagles G8 summit and 2005 UN General Assembly commitments in support of the MDGs in Africa.

As a follow up to the first conference in Abuja, Ghana is set to host the second segment in the series of conferences to further deepen the dialogue on Financing for Development. ECA is providing secretariat and technical support to the conference.