Tunis — Mozambique and the African Development Bank (AfDB) are celebrating a thirty-year partnership that has registered over a billion dollars in development-related assistance to the country.

The first Bank project in Mozambique - a road linking the districts of Nampevo and Alto-Molocue - was approved in 1977. "That road paved the way for several other interventions by the Bank in the country," said the institutions Regional Representative in Maputo, Alice Hamer.

The Bank has since approved some 70 operations in Mozambique for a total amount of approximately US$1.6 billion. It has a current project portfolio of 24 operations with a total commitment of US$ 554 million.

In a statement on the occasion, Ms. Hamer noted that investments "have been in the areas of agriculture and rural development, finance and industry, public utilities, transportation, human development, and multi-sector operations." She emphasized the diversity within sectors, pointing out, for example, that "activities in the agricultural sector have included irrigation, fishing, micro-credit, family sector farming, and so on".

The Bank Representative also pointed out that "our partnership has also involved a wide geographical spread", a fact demonstrated by an active portfolio of on-going projects that includes operations in every province of the country.

The Bank has been working to align its programmes more closely to the poverty reduction efforts of the government and to harmonize its approaches with those of the country's other development partners. Its office in Maputo, which also covers Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, was opened in February 2006, to support dialogue with governments, coordination with donors, and efforts to improve project implementation.