To support the regional agricultural policy, the ECOWAS Commission and the French Development Agency (AFD) have signed two new financing agreements totalling €20 million).
The financing agreements were signed, yesterday, in Abuja, by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, and the Director of the French Development Agency in Nigeria Mr. Xavier Muron, today.
French Minister of State for Development and International Partnerships Francophonie, Ms. Chrysoula Zacharopoulou and the Ambassador of France to Nigeria and ECOWAS, HE Ms. Emmanuelle Blatmann, were witnesses to the event held in Abuja.
This financing is dedicated to the implementation of two projects, respectively, the €11 million Support to the “Local Milk Regional Strategy” aiming at developing local dairy value chains in West Africa; and the €9 million Support to the West African Food Security Storage Strategy, increasing to €17 million the total amount of French support for this critical project. The additional funding is crucial in the context of a worsening food crisis in the region.
Dr. Touray, President of the Commission, stated that the various technical and financial support provided by France to ECOWAS through the AFD Group has enabled the region to support various areas, among which are: the implementation of the ECOWAS agricultural policy (ECOWAP), the creation and implementation of the regional energy market, the health sector, and the development of the activities of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID).
He specifically commended the support that the AFD Group has given over the past 10 years which amounts to a total of €135 million including €75 million in delegated European funds to implement regional projects and programs dealing with critical issues of vulnerabilities and crises affecting the region (food security, livestock and transhumance conflicts, Sanitary and phytosanitary, climate-smart Agriculture and sustainable agriculture).
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