Juba, Southern Sudan, June 7, 2010 – Juba was one of six Eastern African towns connected to Addis Ababa via a video conference on Friday to discuss World Bank Strategy for Africa. 20 participants comprising Government officials, academics, representatives of non-governmental organizations, journalists and diplomats accredited to Juba gave their views on how best the Bank should contribute to the development of the region.
“It is now encouraging that the World Bank wants to listen to us instead of coming with prescriptions to treat ailments which we are not even aware of”, one participant said.
The participants urged the World Bank to support Africa develop infrastructure to enhance regional trade, design education systems relevant to market demands, increase agricultural production and promote policies that will allow mobility of the citizens and trade facilitation within the region. They noted with concern that ordinary citizens were being charged high entry visa fees.
The World Bank is reviewing its strategy for Africa because so much has changed and is changing on the continent. It needs to reconsider how to be most effective in supporting the progress taking place and the long term development challenges still prevalent on the continent. The consultations which began this week on June 1 with a first stop in Johannesburg, South Africa, involve online and face to face meetings.
The first phase of the consultations will be complemented by discussions at national level. The proposals collected will be used to produce a draft Africa Strategy which will be posted on the World Bank web, along with a document outlining how the issues raised during the consultations were addressed in the drafting of the strategy paper.
The revised Africa Action Plan is expected to be discussed by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors in late 2010 and early 2011.
To participate virtually in the web-streamed session of the forum, visit:
mms://wbmswebcast1.worldbank.org/external-1
For more information or to contribute visit:
www.worldbank.org/africaconsultations
For more information about the work of the Bank in Africa, visit:
www.worldbank.org/afr