Commissioner Nielson's visit to Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali

Poul Nielson, the member of the European Commission responsible for development co-operation and humanitarian aid, will be on an official visit to the three West African countries from 26 November to 5 December 2002. Mr. Nielson's first visit to these countries as Commissioner will include bilateral talks with government figures and visits to Community programmes. As part of the Europe-Africa dialogue, the Commissioner will also be attending the Ouagadougou ministerial conference on 28 November 2002 (See MEMO/02/260 of 21 November 2002).

While in Burkina Faso, Mr. Nielson will meet government figures to take stock of Community co-operation with the country now that implementation of the 9th European Development Fund (EDF) is under way

In Ghana, Mr. Nielson will, in addition to official meetings and visits to projects, sign a €40 million financing agreement for a project in support of the mining sector.

In Mali, he will take stock of EC-Mali co-operation and the programming of the 9th EDF.

Commissioner Nielson's schedule begins in Burkino Faso (26 to 30 November), where he will meet the Head of State, Mr Blaise Compaoré, the Prime Minister, Mr Paramanga Ernest Yonli, and other members of the government. In Ouagadougou, Mr Nielson will also visit a municipal drinking-water supply project, for which the EU is one of the main donors. Burkina Faso has so far received more than €1.2 billion from the EU under the Lomé Conventions and the Cotonou Agreement. Co-operation between the EU and Burkina Faso is widely seen as a successful example of the use of EU financial resources in the region, which is why implementation of 9th EDF projects has already begun. They include a recently approved and signed €125 million programme of budget support for poverty reduction.

The Commissioner will then visit Ghana from 2 November to 2 December. This visit comes not long after the signing of Ghana's 9th EDF indicative programme, a five-year co-operation programme worth €311 million. Mr. Nielson's schedule includes meetings with local authorities in the Kumasi region and visits to a number of projects, including Commission-backed water and small-scale timber-working projects. In Accra, the Commissioner will meet Ghana's President, Mr John A. Kufuor, and the Minister of Finance, Mr. Yaw Osafo-Maafo. Meetings with civil society and a speech at the University of Legon/Accra are also scheduled.

Mr. Nielson will arrive in Mali on 5 December. Later that day he will meet the President of the Republic, Mr. Amadou Toumani Touré, the Prime Minister, Mr. Mohamed Ag Hamani, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Mali Nationals and EDF national authorizing officer, Mr. Lassana Traoré. He will also meet representatives of civil society and various political parties. These meetings will provide an opportunity to strengthen the political dialogue and co-operation with a country whose strong commitment to democracy is shown by this year's presidential and parliamentary elections. Community aid to Mali is considerable. The country has received €209 million under the 8th and €375 million under the 9th EDF. On 4 and 5 December will visit the center of the country where he will inspect a sand invasion project in Timbuktu and a programme for the creation of small irrigated areas in the Mopti region. This visit will also enable the Commissioner to witness at first hand the decentralization process under way in Mali, a process heavily backed by the EU.

| Top |

• EU-Africa Dialogue in Burkina Faso (21/11/2002)