WASHINGTON, March 1, 2024 - German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze and World Bank Vice President for Western and Central Africa, Ousmane Diagana, will visit Burkina Faso and Benin from March 4-7, 2024.
This joint visit of Germany and World Bank is to support local communities, address threats to stability through development, and foster economic opportunities for all. It illustrates World Bank/German collaboration around the key priority areas of: (i) investing in prospects for the youth through education and skills / vocational training, and (ii) strengthening resilience and social cohesion by supporting local communities.
The trip reaffirms the World Bank and Germany’s continuous commitment to Western and Central African countries and will provide an opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the two countries. It also expresses the importance of closely coordinated action by the different development partners.
In Burkina Faso (March 4-5), Ousmane Diagana and Svenja Schulze will meet with the country authorities, development partners, and other stakeholders to discuss development priorities in a multidimensional crisis context. The delegation will also visit a World Bank-funded science high school and an Agroecological Training Centre, which is a partner of German cooperation in the country.
In Benin (March 5-7), they will engage with Government counterparts to discuss strategies to prevent fragility and strengthen a coordinated response with development partners to scale up prevention and risk mitigation. The delegation will visit projects and engage with beneficiaries and attend a round-table on strengthening vocational training, employability, and youth entrepreneurship.
The World Bank active portfolio in Burkina Faso comprises 30 operations, covering 13 sectors with total commitments of $3.78 billion, including 19 national projects ($2.70 billion) and 11 regional projects ($1.08 billion). Benin has 26 projects representing $2.7 billion.
Contacts:
For the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development:
- Nikolai Fichtner, presse@BMZ.Bund.de
For the World Bank:
- In Washington: Caitlin Berczik, cberczik@worldbank.org
- In Ouagadougou: Lionel Yaro, lyaro@worldbank.org
- In Cotonou: Yao Gnona Afangbedji, yafangbedji@worldbank.org
