A flag-raising ceremony outside the CCIA (Centre de Commerce International d'Abidjan) Building in downtown Abidjan marked the occasion of the African Development Bank Group's official return to its headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, on Monday, September 8. The flags of the host country and the institution were raised in the presence of Daniel Kablan Duncan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, joining the flags of the Bank's 78 regional and non-regional member countries.

During the ceremony AfDB President Donald Kaberuka saluted the excellent cooperation between the AfDB and Côte d'Ivoire. "This ceremony is an expression of the unconditional friendship between the Bank and its host country," said Kaberuka, who on behalf of the Board and Senior Management, acknowledged the effort made by the Ivoirian Government to facilitate the Bank's return.

Kaberuka thanked Kablan Duncan for attending the ceremony, calling it "a gesture of friendship and fraternity in this historic and crucial moment for the Bank."

For his part, the Prime Minister observed that "just as the Bank that left Abidjan in 2003 is no longer the same institution that left in 2003, the Côte d'Ivoire that the Bank left in 2003 is no longer the same country that the Bank sees today in 2014: a country in full reconstruction."

Kablan Duncan conveyed the pride of Ivoirians to see the Bank's return after 11 years in Tunis. The Prime Minister expressed his Government's gratitude to the AfDB Board of Directors and Board of Governors for their support of the Bank's return to Abidjan.