The EC and the World Bank at the forefront of aid to Africa

The European Commission welcomes the World Bank Group's Africa Catalytic Growth Fund, announced in yesterday's press. Both institutions are determined to support and accelerate shared economic growth and to assist in the achievement of Millennium Development Goals that have proved difficult to attain in Africa. The World Bank Group Trust Fund is complementary to the European Trust Fund on infrastructure, which was launched on February 9th by the EC and the EIB as a new tool to implement the Euro-Africa partnership on infrastructure. Both institutions are key actors in development cooperation and have now new means to better respond to the African challenges.

EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel made the following statement. "Last year, the international community has taken substantial commitments to raise more money for development aid and deliver it better and faster. This year we must deliver on these commitments. Together with the European Investment Bank, the EU has launched the European Trust Fund for Infrastructure. I am happy that with its new trust fund, the World Bank joins its efforts with the EU. As key partners in development cooperation, the EC and the World Bank take a major role in this process."

The EU and the World Bank have both adopted strategies and action plans to deliver on their commitments. Last December, the European Union adopted the European Consensus on Development and the EU Strategy for Africa. Today the EU has a joint strategy for development shared by all its Member States and by the Commission alike. The World Bank has equally adopted an Action Plan to support Africa in September 2005. To establish synergy and complementarity between the two strategies, both institutions are engaged in frequent consultations: In the so-called Limelette process, ways of closer collaboration in key areas such as infrastructure, regional integration and trade and public finance management are being discussed.

Development is a global effort and both the EU and the World Bank share the same objective of growth and poverty eradication in Africa. Both institutions are working together in this respect. The two Trust Funds will allow to rapidly channel additional resources from other partners to Africa with the aim to accelerate progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

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