The President, African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has advised governments on the continent to create the right environment for an industrial revolution.
Adesina, according to a statement by the AfDB, gave the advice at the 53rd meeting of the bank in Busan, Korea, on Monday.
The AfDB president said African governments should create the right environment for the private sector to lead the continent’s industrial revolution.
“Korea’s example is incredible. Korea was as poor as any African country in the 1960s with a low per capital income. Today, thanks to the determination of its people and its commitment to industrialisation, Korea is the 11th biggest economy in the world, an example that Africa should learn from,” he stated.
Adesina, spoke at a media breakfast, focused on the theme of the 2018 annual meeting: ‘Accelerating Africa’s Industrialisation’.
“If you look at countries that have industrialised – China, South Korea, Singapore and many others – the role of the state was clear. One of the things that I think we need to take out of this conversation is that the state has a great role to play in Africa’s industrial revolution, particularly in terms of industrial policy, providing direction, support for infrastructure and directing capital to particular industries. Ethiopia is a very good example,” he noted.
Adesina explained that industrialisation was selected as the theme of the 2018 meeting to further show what Africa could learn from a country like Korea.
He said, “There is nowhere better than Korea to address this theme. Korea’s incredible success over the last 60 years provides a perfect model to the African Development Bank to redouble its efforts towards Africa’s economic development.
“Africa is a tremendously blessed continent, but it needs to industrialise, create lots of jobs and be more competitive in the global market.”
According to him, for Africa to witness true agricultural transformation, technologies need to reach farmers to enhance productivity.
“We cannot say we have leadership when we still have 65 per cent of the land in Africa uncultivated. We must develop solutions to agriculture and ensure that the sector can grow to a $1tn business,” Adesina added.
