CWA- Advocacy for Africa and CWA Advisory Panel

Under this sub-component, ACET, being the main focal point between Think20 platform and African think tank will develop G20 policy briefs in collaboration with think tank partners and partner with T20 members around existing events on key priority themes for African compact countries. The T20 support includes an annual T20 policy note on the CwA, participation in T20 events, and serving on the T20ASG governing body and co-chairing the CwA working group. ACET will also organize and facilitate the advisory panel meetings and provide logistic support to the advisory panel activities. During the first quarter of 2019 ACET finalized the CwA policy brief for the T20 Summit in May. The policy brief will be presented to the G20 Heads of State and G20 Ministers of Finance and focuses on the need for improve public-private dialogue, increased capacity to prepare infrastructure investment projects and greater technical assistance to CwA governments. As a member of the T20 Africa Standing Group (ASG) Steering Committee, ACET serves as a liaison between the Think20 platform and African think tanks. The goal is to build African think tanks’ capacity to more effectively influence policy dialogue. During the first half of 2019, ACET finalized the CwA policy brief for the T20 summit held in Tokyo in May. The policy brief was presented to the G20 Heads of State and G20 ministers of finance. It focused on the need for improved public-private dialogue, increased capacity to prepare infrastructure investment projects, and greater technical assistance to CwA governments. In addition to being a member of the ASG Steering Committee, ACET also is part of the ASG Governing Council. As such, ACET participated in two ASG meetings in Tokyo. The first meeting was on lessons learned from the last three G20 presidencies. An agreement was made in principle for the ASG to meet in Africa once the priorities of Saudi Arabia, which will hold the 2020 G20 presidency, are known. The second meeting was with Saudi representatives to the T20 summit. The Saudis noted that energy and water are likely to be the two new priority themes and indicated that the “G20 legacy issues” would remain—but with some potential adaptations. ACET also participated in a panel discussion regarding the CWA and industrialization, moderated by the President of the South Africa Institute for International Affairs. The panel focused on questions surrounding the CwA’s impact, the need to create markets, the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, the balance of international and domestic companies in public-private dialogue, and more. Most importantly, the panel addressed job creation and the role of CwA in helping to identify the type of investments needed in Africa. Development Bank. Following the inaugural T20 events in Tokyo in December, ACET and AfDB prepared the 2019 CwA policy brief for the T20, which was presented at the T20 Summit in May. During the T20 Summit, ACET and other partners will engage the Saudi Arabia delegation to discuss a range of Africa-related issues, including the CwA; and have subsequently provided input to the Saudi authorities for themes and topics for the next G20. The next engagement with the Saudi G20 presidency is on October 13-14 when six members of the T20 Africa Standing Group will meet with Saudi institutions for a T20 preparatory workshop. ACET is co-chairing the CwA Working Group for the T20 under the Presidency of Saudi Arabia. We have completed drafting the policy note abstract and coordinating with peer organizations. It is likely that the Islamic Development Bank and the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies will be the secondary co-chairs with ACET. The policy note for G20 Finance Ministers will draw upon actionable recommendations from ACET’s CwA related analytical work on domestic resource mobilization, blended finance and public-private partnerships. The first consultative meeting of the G20/T20 will take place in January in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where ACET will participate and lead sessions on the Compact with Africa. As a member of the Governing Council of the Africa Standing Group of the T20, ACET will also help guide the topics for workshops and seminars during the T20 Summit. The CwA Advisory Panel has been well utilized over the past few months, with two members meeting with stakeholders during the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in October in Washington D.C and one member participating in the CwA Workshop at the Africa Investment Forum. In q1 2020, ACET prepared and submitted the draft Policy Note for T20 this period. The policy brief focuses on three key areas where the G20 and African governments can take actions to boost investment. The areas include: 1. The ability of G20 institutions, particularly development finance institutions (DFIs) to explicitly undertake enhanced local approaches to blended finance, which would in turn, lead to expanded financing opportunities. 2. The ability of G20 governments and associated institutions to rapidly address options for reducing project cycle timelines and complexity by identifying good global practice that speeds up project implementation, while retaining construction quality and safeguards. 3. Helping G20 governments and associated institutions to deepen efforts at mitigating fiscal risks in public-private partnerships to make projects more bankable, particularly addressing off-budget or opaque contingent liabilities. In January, ACET participated in the first T20 meeting on Energy and Water under the Saudi Presidency in Riyadh. There were other general discussions on politics, gender, climate. The seven African institutions of the 150 attendees included ACET, the South African Institute for International Affairs, the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES), AERC, the Policy Center for the Global South, a Nigerian think tank and a Nigerian university. ACET’s CwA policy note, drawn from our recent work on blended finance, PPP and project cycles was presented and well received at the meeting. A key feature in the policy note is the presence of specific policy-based recommendations for G20 Finance Ministers. ACET is currently a member of the infrastructure and financing Task Force led by a prominent Saudi and co-chaired by Dean Yoshino (head of AfDB Institute) and Shamshad Achter (former Pakistan Central Bank Governor and Former WB VP). Q2 2020: In Q1, we prepared and submitted a draft Policy Note for T20 which is currently undergoing a second round of peer review by the Saudi Presidency of the G20. The policy brief focuses on three key areas where the G20 and African governments can take actions to boost investment. The areas include: 1. The ability of G20 institutions, particularly development finance institutions (DFIs) to explicitly undertake enhanced local approaches to blended finance, which would in turn, lead to expanded financing opportunities. 2. The ability of G20 governments and associated institutions to rapidly address options for reducing project cycle timelines and complexity by identifying good global practice that speeds up project implementation, while retaining construction quality and safeguards. 3. Helping G20 governments and associated institutions to deepen efforts at mitigating fiscal risks in public-private partnerships to make projects more bankable, particularly addressing off-budget or opaque contingent liabilities. ACET continues to serve on the T20 Africa Standing Committee and co-chairs the CwA task force with the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, the Policy Center for the Global South and the European Centre for Development Policy and Management. In August, we began preparation for a high-level meeting between the Chief Economic Advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel and the chief economists or chief economic advisors to Government in the CwA countries. We are using CwA Advisory Panel members to engage in a dialogue with the chief economists of government in preparation for this meeting. ACET is currently a member of the T20 Infrastructure and Financing Task Force and continues to serve on the T20 Africa Standing Committee and co-chairs the CwA Task Force with the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, the Policy Center for the Global South and the European Centre for Development Policy and Management. Q4 2020 In preparation for the T20 Summit, ACET in partnership with OECD, Brookings, SAIIA, and NEPAD drafted an abstract for the CwA Policy Brief for G20 Finance Ministers. ACET is a member of the T20 Infrastructure and Financing Task Force and continues to serve on the T20 Africa Standing Committee and co-chairs the CwA Task Force with the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies, the Policy Center for the Global South and the European Centre for Development Policy and Management. Q1 2021 (1) Policy Brief: ACET prepared an abstract of a Policy Brief dubbed “G20 Support for Improved Infrastructure Project Cycles in Africa” for the Finance Ministers of the T20. The abstract has been approved and was presented on February 8-9 at the Infrastructure Finance meetings of the T20 Inception conference. The policy brief, which was co-authored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Center, the Africa Growth Initiative, South Africa Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and BRICS Policy Center has been drafted. It addresses long project cycles for infrastructure in Africa proposes three specific policy recommendations – support for the PIDA Quality Label, a community of practice for African Infrastructure practitioners and G20 support to accelerate investment. (2) Advisory Panel Visits: Advisory panel visits to the reform partnership countries to assess the outcomes have been postponed due to the second wave of COVID-19 early this year. Q2 2021 Policy Brief: In Q2, ACET finalized the draft annual policy brief to inform G20 Finance Ministers began. The brief, led by ACET, was co-authored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Development Center, the Africa Growth Initiative, South Africa Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and BRICS Policy Center in Q1 has been finalized. It addresses long project cycles for infrastructure in Africa and proposes three specific policy recommendations – support for the PIDA (Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa) Quality Label, a community of practice for African Infrastructure practitioners and G20 support to accelerate investment. Q4 2021 Task Force 7 meeting: On 4th November 2021, ACET participated in the final Task Force 7 “Infrastructure Investment and Financing” meeting. This was a hand-off meeting from the Italians to the Indonesians for G20 Presidency and an opportunity to introduce the Indonesian representatives to the rest of the team. The meeting featured discussions on trending issues of economic importance in the likes of: • Sustainable and climate friendly infrastructure • Digital application to infrastructure • Financing issues: The challenge of rising debt levels in developing countries, PPPs, technical assistance • Regional collaboration. The Indonesian team also introduced 7 priorities that align with these themes: 1. Establishing equitable risk allocation in infrastructure 2. Improving governance in major projects 3. Safeguard policies for infrastructure (climate, biodiversity, gender, minorities and displaced communities) 4. Developing national strategies and the role of Sovereign Wealth Funds 5. Promoting innovation and digital infrastructure 6. Managing local and social infrastructure development 7. Regulatory reform and the direction of PPPs Policy Brief: ACET in partnership with the Task Force produced Policy Briefs which have been published at this link: https://www.t20italy.org/publications/