Chair of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility and Co-chair of the High Level Panel on Climate Finance
Vera Songwe is the Former United Nations Under-Secretary- General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Upon her appointment, she became the first woman to lead the institution in its 60-year history. As Executive Secretary, Songwe’s reforms have focused on developing and implementing ‘ideas for a prosperous Africa’. They have emphasized the critical importance of macroeconomic stability, innovative finance, private sector participation, the digital transformation, trade and competitiveness in fostering growth and improving livelihoods. She was listed as one of Africa’s 50 most powerful women by Forbes in 2020 and named as one of the ‘100 Most Influential Africans’ by Jeune Afrique in 2019. In 2017, New African Magazine listed her as one of the ‘100 Most Influential Africans’ and the FT named her one of the ’25 Africans to watch’ in 2015. Songwe is acknowledged for her long-standing track record of providing policy advice and her wealth of experience in delivering development results for Africa. She has written extensively on development and economic issues including on debt, infrastructure development, fiscal and governance issues. She is well published and contributes to the development debate across a broad spectrum of platforms including in the Financial Times. Prior to ECA, she held a number of senior leadership roles with the International Finance Corporation and World Bank.