The African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank are strengthening their collaboration through a Joint Partnership Action Plan. The objective is to accelerate development in Africa, particularly the boosting of public and private investment in strategic sectors, such as the environment, infrastructure, technology, financial inclusion and education and health.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have just signed a Joint Partnership Action Plan. The objective is to strengthen their cooperation to accelerate development in Africa through the dynamization of public and private investments.
The action plan thus enables the two institutions to develop a common basket of bankable projects focusing on complementary areas, including the fight against the effects of climate change, large-scale innovative investments in quality infrastructure, information and communication technologies, financial inclusion – taking into account gender equality – education, training and health. 
The partnership was sealed by Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala, Acting Senior Vice-President of the AfDB, and Thomas Östros, Vice-President of the EIB, at a virtual ceremony on 20 January on the sidelines of a roundtable with representatives of both institutions. It comes in an unprecedented context of Covid-19 which, according to the AfDB, has led to an increase in poverty on the African continent and threatens markets and livelihoods, reinforcing the need for urgent action. "It is essential that more multinational development banks and other development finance institutions engage in closer and stronger collaboration, as shown in this AfDB-EIB Action Plan, so that our regional member countries are supported more effectively during this period. difficult," said Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala.
It should be noted that the Joint Action Plan focuses on the AfDB's five High 5 development priority areas as well as the EIB's priority areas for Africa.
"The Action Plan signed today with the AfDB demonstrates the strong commitment of the EIB, the Bank of the European Union, to generating investments that will bring real change to Africa. Strengthening our collaboration with the AfDB is a strategic priority for the EIB and Europe," said Thomas Östros. 
Over the past five years, the joint portfolio of the two institutions has reached €3.4 billion and generated a total investment of €10.2 billion for twenty-six projects across the continent. They have supported a range of clean energy, water, transport and private sector projects across the continent, "whether in Morocco (north), Senegal (west), Kenya (east), Zambia (south) and elsewhere in Africa".