Oualalou Attends African Development Bank Meetings in Valencia
Morocco-Regional, Economics, 5/30/2001

Moroccan minister of economy, finance, privatization and tourism, Fathallah Oualalou, is taking part in the annual meetings of the African Development Bank, held May 29-31 in Valencia, Spain.

In an address before the annual meetings, Oualalou surveyed the challenges facing African countries, laying emphasis on struggle against poverty and AIDS as well as on the need to integrate African economies in world trade.

Oualalou called industrialized countries to increase public assistance to development and to open their markets to African exports to enable these countries promote growth and reduce poverty. He also underlined the role of the Abidjan-based AfDB, as a regional financial institution, in backing reforms and structural adjustment programs and in attracting capital flows to African countries.

On the sidelines of the meetings, Morocco and the bank signed two loan accords worth respectively 7.6 billion Yens and 32.41 million dollars. The loans will finance educational projects meant to increase schooling rate and to improve the quality of technical education in secondary schools.

An estimated 1,500 participants from 78 countries are participating in the AFDB annual meetings that are debating the role of the private investment in African development.

The bank, one of three regional development banks in the World Bank group, only opened its doors to non-African participants in 1982, when the United States and other western nations joined. Since then, international capital has played a key role in funding the bank, particularly its concessional loan arm, the African Development Fund.

Discussing the influence of increasing globalization on Africa and how African countries can profit - rather than suffer from it - bank President Omar Kabbaj (Morocco) listed attracting private investment, increasing international exchanges and reinforcing regional integration as key elements in such a strategy.

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