Chronicle Editor
AFRICAN heads of state, business leaders, and development partners will converge tomorrow in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, for the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit where they will commit to ambitious reforms and actions to expand access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity to 300 million people in Africa by 2030.
Mission 300 is an unprecedented collaboration between the African Development Bank, the World Bank Group, and global partners to address Africa’s electricity access gap using new technology and innovative financing. Nearly 600 million Africans lack electricity, which is crucial for development and job creation.
Several heads of state and government from Africa will join more than 1,000 other participants—with strong representation from the private sector—at the January 27-28 summit. Together, they will chart Africa’s course toward universal access to energy.
This week’s summit is expected to yield two significant outcomes: the Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration, outlining commitments and practical actions from African governments to reform the energy sector, and the first set of National Energy Compacts, which will serve as blueprints with country-specific targets and timelines for implementation of critical reforms.
In the first phase, 12 countries will present their energy compacts: Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia. Other African countries are expected to develop their compacts in subsequent phases.
The partnerships forged and commitments made by the continent’s leaders and changemakers gathering in Dar es Salaam this week will shape the continent’s journey toward achieving universal energy access, transforming millions of lives, and driving sustainable development and job creation.
-World Bank News
Online Reporter