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THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE ARAB BANK FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
IN AFRICA THE KINGDOM OF LESOTHO
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H. E. Mr. Medhat
S. Lotfy, Director General of the Arab Bank for
Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) arrives,
Thursday 15th July 2004 at Maseru, the capital
of the Kingdom of Lesotho, as part of a regional
visit to the Republics of Ethiopia, Botswana,
and Senegal extending from 4th July to 20th July
2004.
During his visit to the Kingdom of Lesotho, he
will be received tomorrow 15th of July 2004, by
the Royal Highness the King of Lesotho, in
addition the Prime Minister and the Minister of
Finance, and other high-ranking government
officials.
Talks will cover areas of cooperation between
Lesotho and BADEA, with the objective of
exploring the best means of promoting and
developing the relationship to realize the
objectives of development in Lesotho.
By the end of June 2004, BADEA’s assistance to
Lesotho reached the sum of US $ 58.82 million to
finance 20 development operations. BADEA
allocated to project loans about (US $ 54,05
million), nearly about 91.90% from the total
commitment to finance 10 projects. The amount
allocated to infrastructure sector reached to
(US $ 51.05 million), representing 86.79% over
the total commitments, while finance sector
received (US $ 3 million), the special program
received (US $ 2.80 million), in addition to the
(US $ 1.97 million) allocated to 8 technical
assistance grants.
It’s worth mentioning that 13 participants from
Lesotho participated in the training sessions
organized by BADEA in the framework of technical
assistance grants.
BADEA was created pursuant to the decision of
the 6th Arab Summit Conference at Algiers (28th
November 1973), and commenced its operations in
March 1975. Its headquarters is based in
Khartoum, the capital of the Republic of Sudan.
The Bank was established for the purpose of
strengthening economic, financial and technical
cooperation between Arab and African regions, to
make Arab-African solidarity a concrete reality
and to base this cooperative venture on
foundations of friendship and equality. To
achieve this goal, the Bank was given a mandate
to: -
- Assist in financing economic development in
non-Arab African countries.
- Stimulate the contribution of Arab capital
flows to African development.
- Help provide the technical assistance required
for development in Africa.
BADEA’s financing operations have grown since
1975, to reach US $ 2814.058 million by end of
June 2004. These include loans provided through
SAAFA (Special Arab Aid Fund for Africa)
amounting to US $ 214.2 million, and have been
earmarked to finance 352 development projects,
318 technical assistance operations, 26 loans
for the private sector and 14 special operations
(in the context of Emergency Aid Programme
operations for the benefit of several African
countries effected by drought and
desertification), in addition to 59 loans
extended through SAAFA.
BADEA’s commitments to the technical assistance
operations to-date stand at US $ 76.564 million,
earmarked to finance feasibility studies,
training and institutional support in general.
BADEA’s operations cover all 43 eligible
countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to
a number of regional organizations. They cover
infrastructure, agriculture, rural development,
energy, industry, social and financial sector in
the form of project loans and technical
assistance grants.
The projects selected by BADEA are directed
towards improving the living conditions of the
target beneficiaries, particularly those
projects related to rural development and
environment, such as rural water supply and
sewage, or those aiming at reducing negative
impact of drought and desertification, and
reducing poverty. This is obviously in line with
current approaches to development. BADEA’s
operations also focusing on operations
encouraging women’s participation in
development.
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