AfDB NEWS & EVENTS
18-Feb-2020
The administrators of the African Development Bank Group are conducting a consultation mission from February 17 to 21 in Senegal, punctuated on Monday by meetings in five ministries and visits to project structures.
The mission was first received by the Minister of Economy, Planning and Cooperation, Amadou Hott, also Governor of the Bank for Senegal, who thanked the administrators for the choice of the African Development Bank focused on the Senegal. He considers that the projects financed by the Bank, in particular the AIBD international airport and the bridge between The Gambia and Senegal, have contributed to strengthening the attractiveness of the country. "The decisive support of the Bank has enabled us to exceed the objectives of the first phase of the emerging Senegal Plan", he explained. He highlighted the new prospects offered by oil and gas and the growing place given to public private partnerships (PPP) and the private sector.
The spokesperson of the administrators, Saïd Maherzi, pleaded in favor of the reinforcement of the cooperation between the Bank and Senegal, whose beginnings go back to 1972. He returned to the importance of the mastery of the macroeconomic framework by the Senegalese government . Some administrators insisted on the importance of social and environmental safeguarding issues as well as debt control and good management of oil and gas resources. Amadou Hott confirmed the special attention paid by Senegal to controlling its public debt, which should not exceed 3% of GDP between 2020 and 2021. The Minister reiterated Senegal's support for the candidacy of President Akinwumi Adesina for a second mandate at the head of the institution.
The administrators then went to the new town of Diamniadio, which houses several ministries, 25 km from Dakar. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Equipment, Moussa Baldé, stressed the importance of self-sufficiency in rice, diversification of production and control of value chains. "My department works a lot with the Bank," he said. Directors called for strengthening measures to promote employment and rural entrepreneurship, small-scale irrigation and technological innovation for agriculture.
The Minister of Land Infrastructure and Access, Oumar Youm, spoke of the role of regional connectivity corridors, the Gambia-Senegal bridge, the Dakar-Bamako-Kano project, the Rosso bridge between Mauritania and Senegal and the Dakar corridor -Conakry. "With 401 billion CFA francs injected into the roads in four years, what the Bank is doing to support the emerging Senegal Plan is quite simply remarkable," he said.
At the Ministry of Tourism and Air Transport, the Director of Air Transport, Mathiaco Bessane, presented the Strategic Plan for the Development of Tourism and Air Transport for the period 2020-2025, after having underlined the leadership of the Bank in the establishment of the AIBD airport.
For her part, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Community Development of Social and Territorial Equity explained to the administrators all the solidarity and social equity programs, in particular family security grants.
Bank administrators also had discussions with representatives of project structures. The administrator of the Sovereign Strategic Investment Fund (FONSIS), a partner in the private sector, testified that he "created or maintained nearly 4,000 jobs". The director general of the Investment Promotion Agency (APIX), explained the work done to improve the business environment and the establishment of special economic zones. According to Amadou Sarr, who heads the Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship (DER), “more than 70,000 people have benefited from empowerment support, especially women and young people. "
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