In response to an invitation extended to him by H.E. the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, H.E. Mr. Abdelaziz KHELEF, the Director General of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) arrives today, the 26th of April, 2007, to Port Louis, capital of the Republic of Mauritius, in an official visit. The visit aims at the coordination, exchange of views and identification of the needs and priorities of the country, in order to improve and enhance the existing cooperation between Mauritius and BADEA. The visit is within a regional tour by his Excellency to some Indian Ocean countries eligible for BADEA’s assistance, and including beside Mauritius, the Republics of Seychelles and Madagascar.

During his visit, the Director General will meet with H.E. the President of Republic of Mauritius and H.E. the Prime Minister. In addition, he will hold work sessions with some Ministers and Officials who are concerned with BADEA’s cooperation. The Meetings will review the current status of the mutual cooperation, the current status of the on-going projects and technical assistance operations, in addition to the development plans of the Government and its prioritized development operations for financing. The possibility of outlining future programs of cooperation will be considered. On the other hand, the delegation will pay visits to some sites of projects financed by BADEA.

Till the end of March 2007, the total benefits of the Republic of Mauritius from BADEA’s financing, amounted to about US$ 102.73 million, earmarked to finance 15 development operations, including three operations within the framework of BADEA’s Export Financing Scheme (BEFS) totaling US$ 24.4 million.

During the visit, BADEA’s delegation will attend the summit of COMESA which will be held on 26 and 27 April in Mauritius. The Director General will address the summit, presenting a brief on BADEA’s role in the African development and the efforts exerted to realize its objectives as a mechanism of enhancing the Arab-African cooperation, in addition to a brief on BADEA’s program for financing Arab exports to African countries. Within the framework of the summit, side-meetings will be held with some African participant delegations, in order to review the current and future cooperation with BADEA.

It is worth noting that the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa is an Arab financial institution, financed by the Governments of the Arab countries, members of the League of Arab States (LAS), and provides its financing as loans with concessionary terms and technical assistance operations in the form of non-repayable grants, to enhance the socio-economic development of the non-Arab African countries – south of Sahara. In this regard, the total BADEA’s commitments to these countries during the period 1975-2006 amounted to US$ 3174.52 million, earmarked to finance 402 development projects, 376 technical assistance operations, in addition to 59 loans provided to African countries in support of their balance of payments.  Due to the role of trade in strengthening Arab African cooperation, BADEA initiated a programme for financing Arab exports to African countries eligible for its aid, and allocated for it a sum of US$ 100 million. Since the start of the programme in 1998, 16 operations were funded with a total cost of US$ 93.83 million. Likewise, BADEA extended, within the framework of the "HIPC" Initiative, US$ 132.75 million to contribute to the reduction of debt burden of 13 African beneficiary countries.