At the Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Africa's Mission 300 initiative received pledges of at least $53.95 billion in support from the project's partners, including the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Islamic Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the French Development Agency, and the OPEC Fund, the AfDB said in a press release.
"Our mission to provide electricity to half of the 600 million people in Africa without access is a critical first step. To succeed, we must embrace a simple truth: no one can do it alone. Governments, businesses, philanthropies, and development banks each have a role - and only through collaboration can we achieve our goal," President of the World Bank Group Ajay Banga said on the sidelines of the summit.
Thirty African heads of state committed to expanding access to reliable and affordable electricity by 2030 at the summit held on Monday and Tuesday, which resulted in a declaration pledging significant reforms and actions to address the continent's energy gap, affecting over 600 million people currently without electricity, AfDB added.
The declaration will be submitted to the African Union in February for adoption, according to the press release.