Smart Africa and the UAE’s Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote investment into Africa’s digital transformation. The partnership will also see Smart Africa and AIM collaborating on core events to promote dialogue to advance development agendas.
Smart Africa is an alliance of 32 African countries, international organizations and global private sector players tasked with defining Africa’s digital agenda. The alliance is empowered by a bold and innovative commitment by African Heads of State to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent and usher Africa into the knowledge economy through affordable access to broadband and the use of ICTs. With a vision to create a single digital market in Africa by 2030, the Smart Africa Alliance brings together Heads of State who seek to accelerate the digitalization of the continent and create a common market.
“This partnership will make significant strides towards bridging the investment gap in Africa. With the right partnerships and investments, we will be well on course to attaining the transformation of Africa into a single digital market,” said Mr. Lacina Koné, CEO/Director General, Smart Africa Secretariat.
The Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) is the world’s leading investment platform, offering a powerful and flexible combination of live and virtual environments. The Annual Investment Meeting creates a dynamic roadmap to economic recovery by unlocking opportunities, reshaping strategies, and building key partnerships to accelerate global progress.
AIM continues to gain support from several Ministries and Government Departments, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), Smart City Solution Providers, Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors and several financial institutions to provide SMEs and Startups with an abundance of opportunities.
Mr. Dawood Al Shezawi, President of the Organizing Committee of the Annual Investment Meeting, stated, “Since the global pandemic, the Annual Investment Meeting has undertaken several innovative and technologically driven initiatives to transform the economy towards an upward direction. The platform has continued to drive investments through smart solutions. It has also pushed for the development of several projects that add value to investors and the economy in general.”
Under the partnership, Smart Africa and the Annual Investment meeting will bring stakeholders together to deliberate, review and negotiate investment into Africa’s digital agenda driven by Smart Africa’s projects. These will include investments in broadband capacity, Smart Cities, interoperable digital identification and capacity building among other initiatives.
