ABUJA,
Nigeria, December 23, 2019/ -- The African Development Bank’s
investments in
West Africa are yielding remarkable results, the
President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),
Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, said in Abuja on Saturday.
He was speaking at the bloc’s fifty-sixth ordinary session, attended by regional heads of state and government.
Brou
said the Bank had provided “invaluable technical and financial
interventions…in the implementation of numerous projects and
programmes”.
The region’s economy is showing positive
achievements, reaching 3.3 percent growth in 2019, he said, “despite
facing significant challenges, particularly with regards to security.
ECOWAS member states have demonstrated remarkable resilience.”
In
a speech, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari assured ECOWAS that his
country was committed to regional integration, requesting members to
channel collective energies towards accelerating sustainable peace,
security, stability and inclusive economic growth.
“It is always
gratifying when our regional bloc comes together to advance our agenda
for regional integration and promote the socioeconomic development of
our subregion,” he told the high-level meeting.
For his part, the
President of the African Development Bank Akinwunmi Adesina put the
Bank’s current portfolio of investments in West Africa at $20 billion,
with a strong focus on critical sectors.
“The African Development
Bank has always been there at the right time, with the right product,
for the right needs of countries,” Adesina told delegates.
“Such
was the case in Nigeria, where the Bank helped to provide $600 million
of budget support that helped it get out of recession, a tough time for
Nigeria. The Bank also provided $500 million to establish the
Development Bank of Nigeria. Last week, we provided $280 million to
support social investments in Côte d’Ivoire,” he added.
“You can always count on the African Development Bank – your Bank,” Adesina assured delegates.
The
Bank’s support in the region includes €525 million for the construction
of the Blaise Diagne international airport in Senegal and $120 million
for the new Terminal 3 for Kotoka international airport in Ghana
The
African Development Bank also provided $30 million for the construction
of the Mandela Praia airport in Cabo Verde, and $130 million for Air
Côte d’Ivoire to acquire a new aircraft fleet.
Other investments
include €60 million for the Lomé Container Terminal port and another
$96 million for the new landmark Senegambia Bridge that now links the
Gambia and Senegal. A €183 million facility was critical for Senegal’s
Regional Express Train.
During the Bank’s second Africa
Investment Forum held in November 2019, the institution and its partners
mobilized investments of $2.6 billion for the development of the Accra
Sky Train and $251 million towards the Lagos Cable Car Transit System
projects.
Adesina also highlighted the Bank’s $1.5 billion
financing for the development of major transport corridors to improve
connectivity in the ECOWAS region. This includes the construction and
rehabilitation of 4,000 kilometers of main corridor roads.
The Lagos-Abidjan Highway will become a reality., the Bank’s President told the regional leaders.
The
African Development Bank is providing $11.1 million to the ECOWAS
Commission to develop the Master Plan for the Lagos-Abidjan highway
corridor and will be providing an additional $13.5 million for
feasibility studies to be completed next year. It expects construction
to start in 2022.
Current initiatives include a $25 billion
investment to turn Africa into a global powerhouse in food and
agriculture. This includes financing special agro-industrial processing
zones in northern Togo, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.
During the
one-day meeting, ECOWAS leaders deliberated on critical issues affecting
the region, including the proposed ECO single currency regime for the
sub-region and the Action Plan for Regional Security.
Adesina
summed up the Bank’s vision for ECOWAS: “An integrated monetary zone and
financial markets; a free zone for trade, with free movement of people,
capital, goods and services; an ECOWAS region whose new currency would
be ECO; and the echoes of that will reverberate across the world.”
No comments :
Post a Comment