The President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr Sidi Ould Tah, met on Friday in Washington, D.C. with senior government officials from France, Belgium, and Luxembourg – three major shareholders of the institution – demonstrating his commitment to strengthening cooperation with member countries.
This week, Dr Ould Tah attended his first Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund since taking office as President. On the sidelines, he met with senior officials from bilateral and multilateral institutions, private sector leaders, guarantee fund managers, bankers and representatives from both member and non-member countries of the Bank Group.
A prominent theme in the discussions was the seventeenth replenishment of the African Development Fund, ahead of the pledging meeting scheduled for December 15-16 in London. The Fund is the Bank’s concessional window, which provides low-interest loans, technical support, and assistance to the 37 most vulnerable African countries.
The meetings also provided an opportunity for Dr Ould Tah to present his ‘Four Cardinal Points’ vision for the Bank Group, focused on enhancing Africa’s access to capital, reforming the continent’s financial architecture, harnessing its demographic potential, and building climate-resilient infrastructure.
President Ould Tah met with Bertrand Dumont, Director General of the French Treasury. France contributed €560 million to the ADF-16 replenishment, making it the 4th largest contributor to the Fund. France provides significant support to flagship Bank programs such as the Desert to Power Initiative, Mission 300 in the energy sector, the Great Green Wall, and the AFAWA initiative to support women entrepreneurs across the continent.
Dr Sidi Ould Tah also held talks with Rémy Rioux, Director General of the French Development Agency Group (AFD). The two institutions signed a co-financing and partnership framework agreement for 2021-2026. To date, the AFD has financed projects totaling €1.64 billion under this framework. These initiatives strategically target critical sectors including climate change, fragility, private sector development, and regional integration.
At his meeting with Heidy Rombouts, Belgium’s Director General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid, Dr Ould Tah praised the country’s exemplary cooperation with the Bank Group. Belgium shares strategic priorities with the Bank Group – 13 of its 14 priority countries for international cooperation are in Africa. It contributed €79.4 million to the ADF-16 replenishment – a 4.15% increase over its ADF-15 contribution.
The Bank Group President met with the Minister of Finance of Luxembourg, Gilles Roth, and urged the country to increase its ADF-17 support. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is among the few industrialized countries that allocate more than 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance (ODA) to support developing countries.
Luxembourg, which joined the Bank Group as a shareholder in 2014, is a regular contributor to the African Development Fund (ADF), disbursing €12.7 million for the replenishment of ADF-16 in 2022. It is also one of the earliest contributors to the Capital Markets Development Trust Fund (CMDTF), which aims to improve regulatory frameworks in African capital markets and broaden the investor base.
The African Development Bank Group is the leading development finance institution on the continent. Projects and programs financed by the Bank have benefited more than 560 million people in Africa over the past decade.
