IDB Annual Meetings: $5.4 billion to address pressing challenges

2023-05-29 08:06:03

• 24 beneficiary countries

• Le Burkina Faso pull well

LThe lanterns went out on the 2023 Annual General Meetings of the IDB Group, held from May 10 to 13, in Jeddah, in the port city of the kingdom.

The Ritz-Carlton serves as the meeting headquarters: behind closed doors with bank administrators at the forum on the private sector, including plenary sessions and B to B meetings around the general theme “Partnerships to repel crises”. The 57 member countries of the Bank Group are all represented by their governors or their alternates, not to mention the facilitators, representatives of the Group’s organizations, experts and other consultants and all the structures that were invited to this major meeting. to take advantage of B to B meetings. More than 2,700 souls were in the corridors of the grand hotel. On arrival, the event attracted 4,452 participants from 90 countries around the world, as well as 89 leading regional and international organizations working for sustainable development, according to the organizers, proof of the interest generated by these Assemblies. annuals.

The President of the IDB and Chairman of the Group, Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser, declared at the closing of the meeting: “During the last four days, we have reviewed development issues with our partners and member countries. We discussed the current situation and the future of the IDB Group, making a number of important decisions in the process. The results of these annual meetings will certainly pave the way for further successes to come”.

Concretely, several projects have been validated and financing agreements have been signed with 24 member countries worth 5.4 billion USD to address the urgent challenges that hinder growth in the countries of the South, with a focus on health, agriculture, food security, SMEs, education and food aid, among others. Burkina Faso has thus benefited from funding for road and electrical infrastructure. In terms of trade support, the framework cooperation agreement with ITFC was renewed. It makes available to the country approximately 495 billion CFA francs to support the export of basic agricultural products such as cotton, the import of agricultural inputs and foodstuffs, the import of energy products from such as oil and electricity, as well as the provision of lines of financing and confirmation of letters of credit to local banks, with the objective of supporting SMEs and the private sector, etc.

Two important events also marked these 2023 General Assemblies. These are humanitarian support for Afghanistan and the renewal of the “Lives and Livelihood” Fund (LLF 2.0), an instrument that makes it possible to provide concessional funds to the poorest States. weaker

Thus, as administrator of the Humanitarian Trust Fund for Afghanistan, the IDB signed seven agreements for inclusive sustainable development projects in Afghanistan, for a total amount of 8 million dollars. This amount includes grants from the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.

The IDB and its international development partners have also launched the second phase of its Lives and Livelihood Fund (LLF 2.0) which aims to mobilize resources that support economic development in 32 of the least privileged member countries of the Bank. The IDB has committed a contribution of $325 million in highly concessional loans to LLF 2.0, bringing total grants to the fund to $200 million.

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IDB key figures

Lhe inaugural press conference saw the Chairman of the Board of Governors, Romuald Wadagni, and the President of the IDB Group face questions from journalists. Recalling the key figures of the bank, the president recalled that it is 170 billion dollars which had summer invested for the benefit of member countries since its birth. This manna rIt isshare by sector of net approvals from IDB ordinary capital resources, in 2022, is as follows: transport 39.4%, agriculture 26.5%, water, sanitation and urban services 1.8%, education 3, 5%, health 15.2%, energy 12.2%, other 1.3%.

For 2022, the President of the IDB announces a 10% growth in financing granted for a total of 10 billion dollars.

On strategies for coping with crises, the key word is development of partnership between the States themselves and between the latter and the development institutions. For the Chairman of the Board of Governors, answering a question on the taking into account of the informal sector in the development of African countries, he recalled that he was the responsibility of States to define their priorities and also to work to gain the trust of the populations by being transparent and accountable to them. The President of the IDB also took the example of Indonesia, which has chosen to prioritize its education sector as the basis for its development. o