Issued by: Office of the Presidency
10 February 2002
In the context of his working visit to Senegal HE the Prime Minister of Britain, Mr Tony Blair and HE Mr Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal organised a forum for informal exchange on the NEPAD, on 9 February 2002.
The meeting was attended by HE Mr John Kufour, President of the Republic of Ghana, HE Mr Jacob Zuma, Deputy President of South Africa, a Ministerial delegation from the Republic of Bemin, lead by Mr Joseph H Gnonlonfoun, Minister of Justice, Legislation and Human Rights, a French delegation lead by Mr Michel Camdessus, personal representative of President Chirac for the NEPAD, the President of the African Development Bank, Mr Omar Kabajj, the President of the Commission of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Mr Moussa Toure and by the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambaz.
On opening the meeting the President of the Republic of Senegal asked for a minute of silence in memory of Princess Margaret and President Leopold Sedar Senghor. He subsequently welcomed the visit by a British Prime Minister to French-speaking Africa, as an historic event. He then briefly presented the Nepad and underlined one of its essential elements, which is the mobilisation of private financial resources in Africa by political and economic good governance.
Prime Minister Tony Blair subsequently reconfirmed the commitment he made to African Heads of State for the implementation of NEPAD, which in his opinion is a unique and historic opportunity without precedence, that should not be an opportunity to be missed.
The participants, all of whom contributed to the success of the meeting, unanimously applauded the richness and quality if the debates. They also congratulated the initiators of this informal exchange for their willingness to make of the NEPAD, the main vehicle for Africa's development.
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