Tunis — The President of the African Development Bank Group (ADB) will be on a two-day official visit to Tripoli, Libya, starting 15 July 2007.
During this visit, the first by an ADB President for fifteen years, Mr.Kaberuka will have a series of discussions with the country's highest authorities.
The African Development Bank and Libya are key movers in African integration and the social and economic development of the continent.
President Kaberuka's visit will be an opportunity to explore ways and means of enhancing the cooperation between the two parties toward their common goals in Africa.
Libya is a prominent regional member country of the African Development Bank. Its substantial financial resources, generated primarily by oil exports, have enabled the country to opt to finance its economic and social development without recourse to ADB resources.
Cooperation between ADB and Libya has thus hitherto concerned only the non-lending instruments of the African finance institution. The two parties are currently taking steps to strengthen their cooperation ties.
Possible priority areas of this joint effort are economic and sector studies that could translate into banking, financial and sector reforms, in order to improve the country's macro-economic management and promote the development of infrastructure (water, sanitation, transport, etc.).
As the principal source of development expertise in Africa and the premier African development finance institution, ADB is ready to assist the Libyan government in its efforts to modernize and raise the competitiveness of its economy. ADB support could initially concern technical assistance and the building of capacities for formulation of sector development policies.
Since the start of its operations on the continent in 1967, the African Development Bank has financed over 3 250 projects in favor of its regional member countries for a cumulative total of approximately 60 billion dollars, to contribute to their economic and social development.
Its share ownership comprises 53 African countries, including Libya, and 24 regional countries (America, Asia, Europe). With a Gross Domestic Product of some 35 billion US dollars in 2005, Libya has the highest per capita income in Africa, which is almost 7000 dollars.
