Madavo ends five-day visit

The Vice-President of the Africa Region of the World Bank, Callisto Madavo, ended a five-day visit to Cote d'Ivoire on Tuesday, the Bank's office in Abidjan said.

Madavo, who arrived in Abidjan on Friday, said that because of the progress made on the political and macroeconomic fronts, "a window of opportunity had opened up for strengthened collaboration with the Bank". He, however, said that Cote d'Ivoire's donors needed to help consolidate the present advances and meet remaining challenges.

Madavo, who started his visit a day after the Bank renewed cooperation with the country, said that the bank would focus on three axes. First, the Bank would strive to fulfil an existing portfolio with an undisbursed balance of about US $280 million. Second, it would allocate $200 million through an Economic Recovery Credit to fight poverty and support projects in priority sectors such as education, health and rural development, and allocate an additional $50 million to fight HIV/AIDS which, according to official statistics, affect 10 percent of the population. Third, the bank would help the government in drafting its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper so to make it eligible under the bank's Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative.

On 31 January, Cote d'Ivoire cleared all its $44.5 million-debt arrears owed to the institution. A day later, the bank announced the official resumption of full economic cooperation between the two. The World Bank suspended aid to Cote d'Ivoire following a 1999 military coup that toppled then president, Henri Konan Bedie.