Director General Statements

Statement of H.E. the Director General of BADEA on the Occasion of the Signatory Ceremony of Four Loan Agreements

Cairo, 23 November 2009

H.E. The Minister,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you today here in Cairo on the occasion of the signing of four loan agreements through which BADEA is extending finance to priority development projects in four beneficiary African Countries.

Our meeting today is and indicator of the brotherly relations that bind the Governments of your esteemed countries with BADEA on one hand and with Arab Countries on the other. Such Afro-Arab relations are a successful model of the South – South solidarity. This meeting also reflects the ongoing cooperation between BADEA and the beneficiary African Countries since 1975.

The agreements concern projects that respond to the objectives, needs and priorities of your esteemed Governments and people in achieving socio-economic development and poverty reduction through contributions to the infrastructure, agriculture and human resources sectors, in addition to contributing to private sector development.

In this regard, BADEA shall contribute through the first project to the financing of "Construction of three teachers training Institutes Project" in the Republic of Malawi. This project aims to support the general education sector of the country and help meet the existing and future needs for qualified primary school teachers, especially in rural areas.

In the Republic of Niger, BADEA will contribute to the second project dealing with the financing of “ Support for Food Security in "Doso" and " Tillabéri" Provinces (Phase II)” which aims at contributing to achieving food security for beneficiaries in the project area by increasing agricultural production through soil reclamation techniques, protection against soil degradation and desertification.

In the Republic of Senegal, BADEA will contribute to finance "Blof Ring" Road Project : Tiyonk Ecil-Blengor Link" which aims at connecting the south west part of the country to the national road network and facilitate transportation of people and agricultural products and reduce cost of transportation.

As for the Republic of Benin, it shall benefit from financing a " Line of Credit to the National Fund for Small and Micro-finance Projects". The Line of Credit aims at supporting the efforts undertaken by the Government to improve the living conditions of the poor segments of the population, through the provision of small and micro loans to enterprises in the agriculture, artisan traditional industries, and fisheries sectors; such efforts will eventually contribute to achieving sustainable economic development targeting groups most in need.

The four projects represent an addition to the list of projects that BADEA has already financed in these four countries and come within the framework of BADEA's overall goal of contributing to the development and strengthening of the Afro-Arab cooperation through active involvement in financing development projects in Africa and fostering the cooperation between our two regions to the level we all aspire to.

BADEA's total commitments for the African beneficiary countries till the end of October 2009 stands at US $ 3744,127 million while the total commitments of the Arab Development Institutions stands at US $ 2657,40 to the four beneficiary countries, of which US $ 494,83 million is BADEA's contribution.

Finally, I would like to extend my thanks to you for your kind attendance, trusting that the respective beneficiary Governments shall take the necessary measures to effectively and efficiently implement these projects. Kindly covey our best wishes to your esteemed Governments and people for a prosperous future and continued success.

C.V. of Director General

H.E. Mr. Abdelaziz KHELEF, Director General of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), is an Algerian, born in "GUEMAR" in 1944. He was appointed in this post as per the Board of Governors resolution in its Annul Meeting that held in Rabat city (Kingdom of Morocco) on April, 18th 2006.

Mr. KHELEF has a post-graduates degree in economics from Paris University 1968 and B.A. in economics from Algeria University 1966. He is a trilingual who has an excellent command of Arabic, French and English languages.

He has a distinguished and a diversified career, as he was assigned many high ranking jobs in his country including important ministerial posts in Algerian Government.

He started off as researcher in the economic field in some industrial companies in public sector from Oct 1968 to Jan. 1971. Then from Jan. 1971 to Feb. 1977, he became Deputy Manager for one year, then Director General for Industrial Development Department in the Algerian Ministry of Industry and Energy.

During the period from Feb. 1977 to 1980, he was assigned the job of Under-Secretary in the Ministry of Light Industries in Algeria. Then in next 13 years (1980-1993), he held senior ministerial posts, as he became the Minister of Trade (July 1980 – Feb. 1986), then the Minister of Finance (Feb. 1986-Nov. 1988), and then he was assigned the job of Under-Secretary for Maghreb Affairs, then an Ambassador in Tunisia (Oct. 1989- Nov.1991). Afterwards he was assigned the post of General Secretary of the Presidency (Nov. 1991 – Nov. 1992). Then he holds the post of Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs being responsible for Maghreb Union and Cooperation Affairs.

He spent the following 12 years (August 1994 – June 2006) in the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah where he served in different positions.

During the period August 1994 to Oct. 1995 he headed the Technical Assistance Programme. Then he served as advisor for the IDB President for Internal Auditing and Operations Evaluation. Then he was assigned the post of advisor for IDB President for Finance and Trade Development (Oct. 1995- Jan 2000).

During the period from Feb 2005 to June 2006 he became Regional Manager for IDB in Rabat (Kingdom of Morocco), responsible for the countries of North and West Africa.

Then he was elected in 2006 as BADEA's DIRECTOR GENERAL by the Board of Governors and reelected in April 2009 for a new three year term.

Director General Interviews:

DIRECTOR GENERAL SPEAKS TO REUTERS

The Khartoum-based correspondent of Reuters interviewed H.E. Mr. Abdelaziz KHELEF the Director General of BADEA on various issues of concern to the African continents. The interview took place at BADEA’S Headquarters on the 4th of November 2009.

Hereunder are excerpts:

Arab Bank to step up support for African agriculture

Wednesday November 04, 2009 03:52:10 PM GMT

- Arab bank to commit $1 billion to Africa over five years
- Share for food, agriculture projects to increase

KHARTOUM, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) is to step up funding for agriculture projects to help governments stave off future food price crises and droughts, the bank's Director General said.

Abdelaziz KHELEF told Reuters the bank would increase total commitments to $1 billion under a new 2010-2014 five-year plan, a $100 million increase from the previous plan.

A quarter of that money would now go to agricultural and food security projects, up from less than 20 per cent in the last five-year period, he added.

BADEA was set up by countries in the Arab League to make grants and soft loans to development projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Sudan and other North African League members do not benefit.

"Most African countries are facing a very difficult situation in terms of food security ... And many African countries shifted their priorities towards food security," Khelef said in an interview in the bank's Khartoum headquarters late on Tuesday.

“We go with the priorities of African countries. We try to really help them implement their plans."

Khelef said the bank would be interested in supporting irrigation schemes and building rural food marketplaces.

It was also interested in helping fund regional trade blocs and long term government food security strategies.

Half the bank's total funding pot would go on African nfrastructure projects, he said, particularly new roads to boost trade between regions and neighbouring countries.

KHELEF said the bank did not have an emergency fund to help farmers caught up in the drought reported in parts of east Africa. "But we can help them develop projects to avoid a repetition of this kind of crisis in future."

Global food prices rose sharply in 2008 and many developing countries saw shortages and hoarding.

There was also unrest as farmers in poor countries complained they did not see their incomes rise as a result.

(Reporting by Andrew Heavens;
editing by James Jukwey)
ENDS
Andrew Heavens