Considered to be one of the most promising solutions to the development needs of Africa, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will explore new measures at mobilising innovative financing for the economic transformation and industrialisation of the region.

Specifically, taking part in this meeting will be experts from 15 Member states of West Africa, those of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and of the Mano River Union (MRU), as well as representatives from key institutions, including the private sector and civil society, working in the area of development financing and structural transformation in West Africa.

According to UNECA, the main objective assigned to this Ad-Hoc Experts Group Meeting is to analyse the options available and the status of innovative financing mechanisms in West Africa, discuss the major constraints and challenges posed for their development and identify strategies for consolidating these arrangements then optimizing their contributions to the structural transformation of the economies of the sub-region.

In addition, the West African Ad Hoc Experts Group Meeting will issue relevant recommendations for decision-makers and other stakeholders for the consolidation of innovative financing and the optimisation of their contribution to the process of the development of the sub-region.

In particular, to mobilise innovative financing for its development, West Africa should strengthen its local financial ma rkets which remain poorly developed, superficial and small in size and where long-term financing with maturities adapted to infrastructure projects are rare.

“Such a development should be accompanied by the implementation of financial engineering and an adequate regulatory framework, the adoption of a pro-active policy on the part of the public authorities and above all, the human, technical and institutional means necessary.

“Similarly, the new trends in development financing in West Africa range from stimulating direct investment by the private sector, foreign as well as local, to the promotion of diverse forms of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), as well as the development of innovative forms of resource mobilisation including issuing bonds on the national, regional and international financial markets, the mobilisation of investment funds and recourse to development banks.

“Local capital markets should play an increasingly important role through loans granted by commercial banks, certain corporate bonds and shares, as well as the intervention of international investors, notably pension funds and insurance companies”, says UNECA.

Innovative financing, considered to be one of the most promising solutions to respond to the development needs of Africa, provide additional funds by exploiting an unexplored potential. This includes the mobilisation of non-traditional means to assemble funds for development.

It thus provides a response to the defects and the decline in traditional official development assistance.