H.E. Mr. Medhat S. Lotfy, Director General of Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), intends to visit four of West African countries during the month of August 2005, namely, Sierra Leone, Côte D’Ivoire, Mali, and Guinea.

The tour will be an opportunity for the Director General to discuss with high-ranking officials in these four countries the cooperation programmes between them and BADEA to explore the best means of promoting and developing mutual cooperation relations.  The Director General will take the opportunity of the visit to introduce to the officials, BADEA’s 5^th Five Year Plan (2005-2009), which took effect as of the beginning of the year 2005.

Its is worth-mentioning that, BADEA’s 5^th Five Year Plan aims at developing and diversify BADEA’s activities, with emphasis on infrastructure, agriculture, rural development, water supply and sanitation, in addition to education and health sectors. These projects are related to the welfare of the people and aim at poverty alleviation, food security, and encouraging women’s participation in development. The total commitment under this Plan is set at US $ 900 millions.

On the other hand, the Director General will brief the officials in those four countries on BADEA’s Export Financing Scheme (BEFS), which aims at promoting trade between the Arab and African countries and enhancing the Afro -Arab cooperation.

The total commitments of BADEA towards these four countries reached US $ 349.510 million at end of June 2005 to participate in financing 91 development projects.