DAKAR – Participants in the 2nd Dakar summit on infrastructure financing in Africa hailed Algeria’s pivotal role as a development engine in Africa.
The director of infrastructure at Senegal’s land transport ministry, Mamoudou Alassane Camara, told APS on the sidelines of the second and last day of the summit that Algeria is one of the most important countries on the African continent with which it is now necessary to strengthen cooperation at all levels”.
The African continent is now experiencing an extremely important period of development projects initiated by member states with regional organizations to achieve the realization of the region’s development, he said.
Faced with the changes the world is experiencing, it is necessary to further strengthen African cooperation in West Africa, he said, adding that Senegal intends, through its development programs, to create a bridge between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the countries of the Arab Maghreb, in particular Algeria.
“It is imperative today to give new impetus to Algerian-Senegalese relations through the diversification of cooperation and partnership between the two countries within the framework of South-South cooperation as well as the development of infrastructures without forgetting the strengthening capacities in the field of transport, in particular rail transport”, he argued.
Algeria, main player in Afro-European integration
For her part, the Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union, Amani Abou Zeid, hailed the axial and pioneering role of Algeria in Africa in general, “not only in terms of infrastructure projects or regional integration projects, but also in relation to all the issues that concern the continent”.
Mrs. Abou Zeid also insisted on the special interest accorded by the AU to infrastructure and regional integration programs as they are the backbone of development in Africa.
She recalled, in this sense, that three or four African countries constitute the locomotive of the African economy, Algeria in the lead, with a major role, without excluding Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa.
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Mrs. Abou Zeid affirmed that the AU had materialized a significant number of infrastructure projects at the regional and continental levels with the participation of several African organizations and countries, which were presented, during the Dakar Summit, to African leaders in high level.
According to the AU Commissioner, the importance of these projects has grown steadily over the past three years following the successive crises faced by the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical circumstances.
These crises having affected the African continent, it is now necessary to achieve more regional and continental integration, particularly in the field of energy, she indicated.
And to add that Algeria plays a pivotal role in terms of energy first at the regional level, then as an African partner contributing to the opening up to Europe.
For her part, the Director General (DG) of the AU Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), Ms. Nardos Bekele-Thomas assured that “Algeria plays a highly important role as a founding member of NEPAD and an active member in favor of the resolution of the issues facing Africa”.
She highlighted Algeria’s attachment to African unity and welcomed its participation in the Dakar summit attended by the Prime Minister, Aïmene Benabderrahmane, in his capacity as representative of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
This “denotes Algeria’s interest in the development of the African continent to achieve development, in the best interests of the African citizen”, she said.
Algeria has significant technological capacities and human resources that allow it to play a role in the realization of several development projects in the continent, she added.
This summit, she said, is essentially aimed at developing a partnership for the realization of projects included in the infrastructure program in Africa.
For his part, an official at the African Development Agency welcomed the tenor of the speech delivered by the Prime Minister, Mr. Aïmene Benabderrahmane on Algeria’s role in development.
Algeria has the scientific and technical skills required to develop the infrastructure, citing the road project linking Algeria to Nigeria, he added.
