In response to an invitation extended by the Government of Rwanda, H.E. Mr. Abdelaziz KHELEF, Director General of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) will arrive today Thursday 30/04/2009, at Kigali, capital of the Republic of Rwanda. The visit is part of a regional tour that will include the Republics of Burundi and Mali, during the period from 30 April until 11 May 2009.

During his visit to Rwanda, the Director General will be received by H.E. the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, in addition to other high-ranking officials.

Talks will cover the mutual cooperation between Rwanda and BADEA, with the objective of exploring the various means of promoting and developing this cooperation and realizing its objectives.

As of to-date, BADEA’s assistance to Rwanda reached US $ 84.46 million for participating in financing 22 development projects.

BADEA’s financing operations in Sub-Sahara African countries since 1975 will reach US $ 3627,512 million by end of March 2009; These allocations have been earmarked to finance 460 development projects, 447 technical assistance operations, 32 loans for the private sector.

BADEA’s operations cover all the 43 eligible countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, in addition to a number of regional organizations. The operations cover infrastructure, agriculture and rural development, rural water, electricity, rural roads, animal and fish production, energy, industry, social and the banking sector over and above technical assistance operations.

The projects selected by BADEA are those, which are directed towards improving the living conditions of the people and easing the pressure on them and reducing poverty, particularly those projects related to rural development and environment such as rural water supply and sewerage, or those aiming at reducing negative impact of drought and desertification. This is obviously in line with the Millennium Development objectives aiming at reducing poverty in developing countries.