On September 25th, in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) will host a roundtable to discuss the AfDB’s African Economic Outlook 2023 report.
Experts from the bank will present key findings from the report, which adopts the theme of “Mobilizing Private Sector Financing for Climate and Green Growth in Africa”. With momentum on climate action and green growth gathering pace, it estimates that the continent represents a trillion-dollar investment opportunity for the private sector.
The discussion will focus on how this can be unlocked, and how the Norwegian public and private sectors can effectively partner with African economies to drive sustainable growth and development.
This is an excellent opportunity to engage with the AfDB, and to gain insight into Africa’s green transition opportunity.
Key topics to be addressed include:
Identifying opportunities to mobilize private sector investment and financing for green growth and climate action on the continent.
The role of the AfDB in driving more private investment in this space.
Strengthening mutually beneficial partnership between Norway and African economies to support the continent's green transition.
Participants/Speakers include:
Prof. Kevin Chika Urama
Vice President and Chief Economist, Economic Governance and Knowledge Management Complex at AfDB
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Kevin Chika URAMA is currently the Chief Economist/Vice President for Economic Governance & Knowledge Management, African Development Bank Group (AfDB).
Prof. Urama is an elected Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS); a Distinguished Professor of the University of Nigeria; an Extra-Ordinary Professor at the School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University, South Africa; an Adjunct Professor at the Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs, Western Australia, a Member of the Global Council on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the term 2021 to 2023.
Prior to joining the African Development Bank, Kevin Urama was the inaugural Managing Director of the Quantum Global Research Lab, Switzerland; Executive Director of the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS); and Senior Research Fellow at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Scotland.
Kevin holds an MPhil and a Ph.D. in Land Economy from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Dr. Alexandre Kopoin
Principal Research Economist, Macroeconomic Policy, Debt Sustainability and Forecasting Division at AfDB
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Dr. Alexandre Kopoin is a Principal Research Economist in the Macroeconomic Policy, Debt Sustainability and Forecasting Division of the African Development Bank. He is an experienced macroeconomist, specialized in fiscal and monetary policy, applied econometrics, international trade, and economic forecasting. He started his career as an economist at the Quebec’s Ministry of Finance, then as a Macroeconomic Modelling Consultant at the World Bank and later moved to the OECD as a Research Economist working on various topics including macroeconomic modelling, economic forecasting, and trade policy. He taught advanced macroeconomics, applied econometrics and optimization techniques at Laval University (Canada) and has published in different academic publications.
He holds a PhD in economics and an M.S. in Financial Engineering from Laval University, an M.A. in Statistics and Quantitative Economics from ENSEA, Côte d’Ivoire, and a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics from INP-HB, Côte d’Ivoire.
Ms. Mette Knudsen,
Executive Director representing Denmark, Finland, India, Ireland, Norway and Sweden in the AfDB Executive Board
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Ms. Mette Knudsen has previously held the position as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for Political Affairs at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. She has over ten years of experience from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Denmark as Head of Africa Department, Head of Section, OSCE and Development Policy, and as Head of Section, UN programmes, Refugees, Humanitarian Affairs. Ms. Knudsen has been the Ambassador of Denmark to a number of countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Ms. Knudsen is a strong negotiator and a seasoned diplomat with strong networking skills and a track record of excelling in both bilateral and multilateral settings as well as in developing and fragile countries. She holds a Master’s in Political Science from Aarhus University in Denmark.
The report presentation in Oslo is the first in the Nordics, and will be followed by the other capitals in the region.