World Bank Group President to visit Africa

Accra, Jan. 28, GNA - The World Bank Group President, Robert B Zoellick is to begin his first official visit to Africa as President of the World Bank Group this week.

The visit followed a successful replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA) and would allow the Bank and its partners to expand and deepen their support to Africa.

According to an official statement from the World Bank, Ghana and copied to the Ghana News Agency, the visit would also enable the bank and its partners to build on last year's record of 5.7 billion dollars commitment to Africa by IDA and another 1.6 billion dollars by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Bank Group's private sector arm.

The visit would take the World Bank Boss to Mauritania, Liberia, Mozambique and Ethiopia, where Mr Zoellick would participate in the 10th Ordinary Assembly of the African Union (AU) as the first World Bank President to speak at a Summit of African heads of State and governments.

"The AU and the World Bank are increasingly working together on a number of issues including regional integration, governance, post-conflict countries, and engaging the African Diaspora in the development of the continent," it said.

The statement said Mr Zoellick's presence at the AU Summit would be an opportunity to further strengthen the relations between the two institutions.

He would also meet with African heads of state and the heads of other international institutions in Addis Ababa to discuss the Millennium Development Goals, agricultural development and the impact of increased food prices on the poor.

"Before arriving in Ethiopia, Mr Zoellick would visit Mauritania and Liberia. In Mauritania, which stands as a bridge between Sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab World, he would meet with President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and key government officials to discuss how the World Bank Group could support Mauritania's transition to a middle income country.

"He would also have an exchange with parliamentarians and representatives of civil society to learn more about the country's challenges. He would meet with the private sector and discuss the IFC and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)'s role in supporting Mauritania's growth agenda," it added.

In Liberia, the statement said, Mr Zoellick's visit would focus on the development challenges facing the country and its efforts to promote growth, overcome poverty, and improve the Liberian people's living standards.

Mr. Zoellick would hold talks with beneficiaries of community projects, meet with Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf-Johnson and participate in a roundtable with finance ministers from Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Togo to discuss the Bank's support to post-conflict countries and the lessons learned from its work in Liberia.

He would also meet with donor representatives; and discuss the Bank Group's contribution to private sector development in Liberia. In Mozambique, he would meet with President Armando Guebuza, as well as representatives from government, the private sector, and civil society.

He would visit Sofala province and Maputo, and would have a chance to see the flood-affected areas of the Zambezi and P=FAngue rivers and finally to the Mozal aluminium plant.