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The African Development Bank (AfDB) is committed to supporting East African countries in accelerating structural change, enhancing resilience, and generating quality jobs. The Bank’s East Africa Regional Integration Strategy Paper (EA RISP) for 2023-2027 outlines two key priority areas to achieve these goals: strengthening regional infrastructure and promoting the growth of regional value chains and trade facilitation.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has promised to help East African nations speed up structural change, strengthen resilience, and increase the number of quality jobs.

The Bank’s East Africa Regional Integration Strategy Paper (EA RISP) 2023–2027 captures this goal. The strategy paper, which the Bank’s Board of Directors approved on May 8^th 2023, identifies two priority areas to accomplish its core goal: to strengthen regional infrastructure and to assist the growth of regional value chains and trade facilitation.

To improve connectivity and boost cross-border trade in electricity, the Bank will invest in cross-border electrical interconnections under the first priority area. Additionally, it will aid in the development of geothermal, hydroelectric, and solar energy in the area through the Desert to Power initiative. Focus will also be placed on enhancing the East African Power Pool’s capacity as well as regional electrical infrastructure efforts like the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme and Energy in the Great Lakes nations.

The regional power pool should be active and there should be an increase in the number of cross-border electricity interconnections in East Africa from 7 to 9. Additionally, it will facilitate interconnectors between different regional power pools, as the one between the Eastern and Southern Africa Power Pools.

The African Development Bank will continue to boost the capability of transport management institutions and regional corridors while also allocating financial resources to multimodal transport systems for roads, railroads, air travel, and inland waterways. The principal thoroughfares and feeder roads that connect production hubs to important markets and foster intra- and inter-regional connectivity will receive special attention.

Through these activities, transit times along important routes will be shortened, and trade within the area and within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) would be improved.

The Bank will promote the growth of regional value chains under the second priority area, particularly in the agro-industry, manufacturing (textiles and clothes), and mining. By supporting upstream initiatives, the Regional Integration Strategy Paper hopes to help the region’s industrial value-added rise from 9% in 2020 to 11% in 2027.

The Bank’s interventions will take into account the following intersecting issues: gender equality, fragility, climate change, human and institutional capacity development, and private sector development to ensure long-lasting development benefits under these two priority areas. In terms of building capacities, the would, among other things, offer technical help to national, regional, and continental organisations in charge of fostering regional commerce, putting the African Continental Free commerce Area into effect, and creating regional public goods.