Brussels, 04/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - High on the agenda of a senior level conference organised on Thursday 4 March in London on the theme of “Regional Economic Integration Convergence in Africa”, were the activities funded by the EU Infrastructure Trust Fund for Africa, the main instrument for implementation of Africa-EU partnership for infrastructure. The objective of this conference was to identify how the Commission and African institutions, as well as donors, companies and investors could best work towards regional integration in Africa. Andris Piebalgs, the European commissioner for development attended the conference.
In 2009 this fund - created in 2007 and managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) - proved to be a “success story”. In 2009, a total of 11 grant operations were approved by the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund to build large-scale energy, transport and information and communication technology. The 11 projects (see annex) include: - hydroelectric schemes, such as Felou in West Africa; - electricity interconnection schemes, such as the Benin-Togo interconnection and the Caprivi (Namibia-Zambia) interconnection; - roads, railways, airports and ports, such as Beira, Walvis Bay, Pointe Noire, Port Louis, the Jomo Kenyata International Airport or the Great Eastern Road in Zambia; - the East African Submarine Cable system (EASSy), a fibre optical cable linking Southern and Eastern African countries into the international communications network; - preliminary studies for Sambagalou and Gouina in West Africa, and the Ruzizi and Gibe hydroelectric schemes in Central and Eastern Africa.
These 11 projects are in addition to the eight projects approved in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, the trust fund saw an increase in its budget. The Commission increased its funding by €200 million. The United Kingdom promised to increase its contribution by €20 million and Finland became the 13th donor to contribute to the fund with a contribution of €5 million.
“Regional integration is a key part of the recipe for a successful sustainable development of Africa. I intend to keep it high on the EU agenda: as Europe's experience shows, no regional markets in Africa, no growth. The Trust Fund also shows how development aid can be used to leverage other funds. This is key for Europe since we provide 60% of global aid for development. We have to make better use of aid money and I have set a target that every aid euro should leverage five euros of other kinds of funding for aid. At the moment, the Trust Fund already exceeds that target", stated Andris Piebalgs. “We congratulate the Trust Fund's proven role as a catalyst for identifying new and innovative projects and its significant contribution to reinforce the cooperation with European Development Finance Institutions", added Plutarchos Sakellaris, EIB Vice President responsible for operations in Africa, Caribbean and the Pacific. The European Commission stressed that since the fund was launched in 2007, over €96 million worth of grant funding has been allocated and a total of €122 million earmarked for key infrastructure projects, leveraging to date €1.5 billion. Based on current trends, the total grant resources of the fund have the potential to leverage investments from financial institutions and European, African or international project sponsors, including the private sector up to €5 billion. (A.N./transl.fl)