Africa-Press – Mauritius. Mauritius hosted a conference organised by the Africa Training Institute (ATI) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the 23rd and 24th January 2024 to mark its tenth anniversary. It featured high-level discussions on the theme, “Economic Policies and Capacity Development in the time of the Big Funding Squeeze”.
The Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, Dr Renganaden Padayachy, was the chief guest of the opening ceremony of the event, that was held on Tuesday 23 January 2024, at the Hennessy Park Hotel, in Ebene.
In his keynote speech, the Finance Minister, Dr Renganaden Padayachy, stated that Mauritius is proud to be at the centre of IFM’s activities which involves providing assistance and training to the African continent, while recalling that for the past ten years, the country has been a significant contributor to ATI’s activities and has always honoured its commitments in a timely manner.
The Minister underlined that Mauritius has had the privilege to host two important capacity-development centres of the IFM, namely Africa south, and ATI, adding that Mauritius has, for their operationalisation, pledged some USD 50 million to the IFM and doubled its contribution regarding the third phase of its activities.
Dr Renganaden Padayachy also lauded ATI’s continued effort to expand and diversify its training courses to include other topics, including gender, climate, monetary and fiscal policies, which he underlined are of huge importance to give Africa the role it deserves on the global stage.
Furthermore, the Finance Minister reiterated Mauritius’ commitment to further deepen collaboration with the IFM for the benefit of the African continent.
‘We are gathered today to make the continent shine brighter as Africa can, must and will, be the success story of the 21st century’, stated the Finance Minister.
He dwelt on the rich natural resources that the continent possesses as well as its growing human population, which will enable Africa to rise on the global stage.
In addition, the Minister spoke of the historical milestone set at the recent G20 Leaders’ Summit 2023, with the entry of the African Union as a permanent member in the G20.
Moreover, the Minister hailed Mauritius’ resilience shown during the prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the support of bold Governmental strategies that allowed the country to rebound from the crisis and enabled it to rise to a prosperous pathway.
As for the Director of the ATI, Mr Sukhwinder Singh, he expressed gratitude to the Government of Mauritius for its continuous support since the setting up of the institute.
He underpinned the purpose of the conference which is to discuss the key economic policy challenges facing Sub-Saharan Africa and see how the institute has and can contribute to building the institutions and skills needed to address them.
The conference, he pointed out, is very timely given that the continent has been hit by multiple shocks, and as it faces a very serious financing squeeze, development needs and confronts major new macro critical challenges.
Other objectives include: to seek ways to strengthen ATI further by finding ways to expand access to meet large demand across whole continent; further increase the impact on countries’ human capital; and explore ways to secure financing over the next decade.
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