ADFIAP and its regional counterpart, the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI), have successfully held their 1st joint CEO Forum on November 13-16, 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa, a milestone between both organizations. Over 200 delegates from the members of ADFIAP, AADFI as well as from invited guests from around the globe attended the event. The Forum was hosted by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) with the support of African Development Bank (AfDB), the Association of Development Financing Institutions of Malaysia (ADFIM) and EximBank of India.
This year’s CEO Forum themed, “Promoting South-South Cooperation among DFIs Through Value Chain Financing in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Caribbean”, was aimed at developing closer working relationship among CEOs of DFIs in Africa and Asia and the Pacific, share and learn best practices in development financing operations, develop networks for cross-border financing and investment promotion by DFIs in both continents, and support an effort at promoting inclusive socio-economic development in the continents through south-south cooperation among DFIs.
The Forum speakers, mostly CEOs of ADFIAP, AADFI and other international organizations shared their experience and expertise in promoting global value chains across countries and institutions in six different sessions during the Forum proper. They discussed and dissected, among others, the significant role played by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the growth and development of various economies; shared how value chain finance addresses potential risks in MSME lending by providing innovative ways of delivering financial services; and explained that the common knowledge base shared by all parties in this model can mitigate the risks factors associated with financial lending to MSMEs and facilitate links into a broader market opportunities.
Apart from the forum proper, other highlights of the event were the 76th ADFIAP Board of Directors Meeting, AADFI Executive Committee Meeting, and the fellowship tour. Another highlight of the event was the ‘IDC Dialogues’, a televised show by CNBC Africa.
ADFIAP and AADFI hold their respective annual CEO Forums which provide a platform for chief executives of their members and partner-organizations for best practice and ideas exchange, relationship-building and business networking and cooperation. For more details of this event, please visit the forum website at https://www.adfiap.org/ceoforum-ix/.