AfDB BANK GROUPS MOURNS PASSING OF FORMER JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER SHINZO ABE

President of the African Development Bank Group, Akinwumi Adesina, has shared his condolences to the entirety of Japan over the death of former prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

In a statement released on July 11, 2022, he states that the former prime minister had Africa and the world at heart, and sought to do much to make the world better.

"During the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-6) in 2016, I had the privilege of huddling together with him and several heads of State, to help find a way to provide Africa with access to Japanese cleaner energy sources. The result of that meeting was an invitation to visit him in Tokyo and a subsequent decision by the Japanese Government to provide a major clean energy financing facility to Africa.", he said.

Mr. Adesina also gave insight on Mr. Abe's support for the former's initiative to help African women, as well as stronger Africa-Japan ties because of his "exemplary leadership"

“It is to Shinzo Abe’s credit that the term ‘quality structure' was coined and mainstreamed into the global financing of infrastructure by the G20...We will be forever indebted to the lasting contributions Shinzo Abe made to our continent.”

Mr. Abe was shot from behind with a homemade gun while delivering a speech upon an upcoming election. He died on Friday, July 8, after he was sent to the hospital.