President John Agyekum Kufuor left Accra on Monday for Bamako, Mali, to attend a summit of 12 African leaders with the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Government Spokesperson, said the summit would give the African leaders the opportunity to discuss with the two bodies what form of financial support African countries require for economic development.
This, she said, is against the background of criticisms against the two Bretton Woods institutions that they have prescribed programmes for African nations, which have not yielded the desired results.
Ms Ohene said the President would chair a discussion on good governance and conflict management and its relations to economic development in Africa.
He is also expected to meet with the Chairman of ECOWAS, Mali\'s President Alpha Omar Konare on the political crisis in the sub-region, especially Guinea, and how Ghana could assist in resolving it.
Kufuor is accompanied by the ministers of finance, Yaw Osafo Maafo, of government business, Joseph Henry Mensah, the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission and Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
BAMAKO, Feb 18 (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are to hold a series of meetings here Monday and Tuesday with leaders of more than a dozen African leaders on how best to promote development in the region.
More than a dozen leaders from western and central Africa are expected to attend the sessions in the Malian capital with the heads of the IMF and the World Bank, Horst Kohler and James Wolfensohn.
\"We came to show the commitment of the IMF and of the World Bank at the side of Africa in its efforts to fight poverty,\\\\\\\" Kohler said on his arrival at Bamako airport.
The joint initiative of the IMF and the World Bank \\\\\\\"shows that we have come together to support, advise and assist Africa in its fight against poverty,\\\\\\\" added Wolfensohn, who arrived a few minutes after Kohler.
The two economists were welcomed by Prime Minister Mande Sidibe, an orchestra and scores of children waving paper flags with IMF printed on one side and World Bank on the other.
Among those expected at the meeting are the presidents of Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Niger, Cape Verde and Madagascar.
Mali\\\\\\\'s President Alpha Oumar Konare is hosting the forum in his role as head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Kohler and Wolfensohn \\\\\\\"will be there to listen to the leaders, to ask them how -- in their opinion -- we can help them better,\\\\\\\" said IMF spokeswoman Lucie Mboto Fouda.
The IMF spokeswoman said the meetings would be relatively unstructured and the leaders would be able to discuss issues face to face.
The priorities for the two international financial bodies will be macro-economic stabilisation, how to support economic growth, human development problems, particularly HIV/AIDS, conflict resolution and economic competitiveness.
After the regional discussions, the two financial chiefs will hold talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki, his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Nigeria\\\\\\\'s leader Olusegun Obasanjo to discuss the Millennium Africa Renaissance Programme.
The development plan, drawn up by the three leaders, was unveiled last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland and aims to help lift the continent from the morass of economic underdevelopment.
Mbeki described the plan as a global partnership for African development and its integration into the world, with the help of developed countries, the private sector and multilateral institutions.
Senegal\\\\\\\'s President Abdoulaye Wade also unveiled a development plan in Davos, known as Omega, based on the failure of the aid approach to debt relief and called for more foreign investment in the continent.
A similar meeting to that being held in Bamako is planned next Friday and Saturday in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania with leaders from southern and east Africa.
On Wednesday, the IMF and World Bank heads will visit Nigeria followed by a trip to Kenya on Sunday, to focus more specifically on those two countries.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruud Lubbers, who arrived in Mali earlier Sunday, was expected later Sunday to meet with the heads of the two international institutions and African leaders.
Lubbers is in the region as part of a trip to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in a bid to resolve a humanitarian crisis affecting some 400,000 refugees in southern Guinea.
President John Agyekum Kufuor left Accra on Monday for Bamako, Mali, to attend a summit of 12 African leaders with the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Government Spokesperson, said the summit would give the African leaders the opportunity to discuss with the two bodies what form of financial support African countries require for economic development.
This, she said, is against the background of criticisms against the two Bretton Woods institutions that they have prescribed programmes for African nations, which have not yielded the desired results.
Ms Ohene said the President would chair a discussion on good governance and conflict management and its relations to economic development in Africa.
He is also expected to meet with the Chairman of ECOWAS, Mali\'s President Alpha Omar Konare on the political crisis in the sub-region, especially Guinea, and how Ghana could assist in resolving it.
Kufuor is accompanied by the ministers of finance, Yaw Osafo Maafo, of government business, Joseph Henry Mensah, the Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission and Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
BAMAKO, Feb 18 (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are to hold a series of meetings here Monday and Tuesday with leaders of more than a dozen African leaders on how best to promote development in the region.
More than a dozen leaders from western and central Africa are expected to attend the sessions in the Malian capital with the heads of the IMF and the World Bank, Horst Kohler and James Wolfensohn.
\"We came to show the commitment of the IMF and of the World Bank at the side of Africa in its efforts to fight poverty,\\\\\\\" Kohler said on his arrival at Bamako airport.
The joint initiative of the IMF and the World Bank \\\\\\\"shows that we have come together to support, advise and assist Africa in its fight against poverty,\\\\\\\" added Wolfensohn, who arrived a few minutes after Kohler.
The two economists were welcomed by Prime Minister Mande Sidibe, an orchestra and scores of children waving paper flags with IMF printed on one side and World Bank on the other.
Among those expected at the meeting are the presidents of Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Gabon, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Ghana, Niger, Cape Verde and Madagascar.
Mali\\\\\\\'s President Alpha Oumar Konare is hosting the forum in his role as head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Kohler and Wolfensohn \\\\\\\"will be there to listen to the leaders, to ask them how -- in their opinion -- we can help them better,\\\\\\\" said IMF spokeswoman Lucie Mboto Fouda.
The IMF spokeswoman said the meetings would be relatively unstructured and the leaders would be able to discuss issues face to face.
The priorities for the two international financial bodies will be macro-economic stabilisation, how to support economic growth, human development problems, particularly HIV/AIDS, conflict resolution and economic competitiveness.
After the regional discussions, the two financial chiefs will hold talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki, his Algerian counterpart Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Nigeria\\\\\\\'s leader Olusegun Obasanjo to discuss the Millennium Africa Renaissance Programme.
The development plan, drawn up by the three leaders, was unveiled last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland and aims to help lift the continent from the morass of economic underdevelopment.
Mbeki described the plan as a global partnership for African development and its integration into the world, with the help of developed countries, the private sector and multilateral institutions.
Senegal\\\\\\\'s President Abdoulaye Wade also unveiled a development plan in Davos, known as Omega, based on the failure of the aid approach to debt relief and called for more foreign investment in the continent.
A similar meeting to that being held in Bamako is planned next Friday and Saturday in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania with leaders from southern and east Africa.
On Wednesday, the IMF and World Bank heads will visit Nigeria followed by a trip to Kenya on Sunday, to focus more specifically on those two countries.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruud Lubbers, who arrived in Mali earlier Sunday, was expected later Sunday to meet with the heads of the two international institutions and African leaders.
Lubbers is in the region as part of a trip to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in a bid to resolve a humanitarian crisis affecting some 400,000 refugees in southern Guinea.
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