A Bank Group delegation led by Operations Director, Janvier Litsé, will participate in a donor round-table on Togo scheduled to take place in Brussels from September 18-19, 2008. The Bank has, for three weeks, put an expert at the disposal of the Togolese government to enable it prepare the round-table which will also be attended by other development finance institutions such as the World Bank, the IMF the EU, the UNDP, the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and ECOWAS.
"It is the very first donor meeting on Togo in 15 years. The Bank Group attaches a lot of importance to this meeting which will enable Togo benefit from the fragile states facility," Mr. Litsé said.
The Togolese delegation, led by Prime Minister Gilbert Fossoun Houngo, looks to obtaining commitments from donors to finance the country's 2008-2009 emergency programme. The delegation is also looking to convincing development partners of the need to finance the country's interim programme for the period 2008-2010 and the interim poverty reduction strategy paper.
With a view to helping put the country on the right path, the Bank Group wrote off the country's debt in March 2008. Togo has, as a result, become the first beneficiary of the fragile states initiative. The decision was made by Bank Group management in order to help post-conflict regional member countries through a resource allocation of close to US$ 600 million.
Bank Group President, Donald Kaberuka, visited Togo in February 2008 to assure Togolese authorities of the Bank's determination to support their economic reform implementation efforts after 15 years of sanctions.
