IP/02/1728
Brussels, 25 November 2002
Commissioner Nielson to visit Burkina Faso, Ghana
and Mali (26 November to 5 December 2002)
Poul Nielson, the member of the European Commission responsible for
development co-operation and humanitarian aid, will be on an official visit to
the three West African countries from 26 November to 5 December 2002. Mr
Nielson’s first visit to these countries as Commissioner will include bilateral
talks with government figures and visits to Community programmes. As part
of the Europe-Africa dialogue, the Commissioner will also be attending the
Ouagadougou ministerial conference on 28 November 2002 (See
MEMO/02/260 of 21 November 2002). While in Burkina Faso, Mr Nielson will
meet government figures to take stock of Community co-operation with the
country now that implementation of the 9th European Development Fund
(EDF) is under way. In Ghana, Mr Nielson will, in addition to official meetings
and visits to projects, sign a €40 million financing agreement for a project in
support of the mining sector. In Mali, he will take stock of EC-Mali cooperation and the programming of the 9th EDF.
Commissioner Nielson’s schedule begins in Burkino Faso (26 to 30 November),
where he will meet the Head of State, Mr Blaise Compaoré, the Prime Minister, Mr
Paramanga Ernest Yonli, and other members of the government. In Ouagadougou,
Mr Nielson will also visit a municipal drinking-water supply project, for which the EU
is one of the main donors. Burkina Faso has so far received more than €1.2 billion
from the EU under the Lomé Conventions and the Cotonou Agreement. Cooperation between the EU and Burkina Faso is widely seen as a successful example
of the use of EU financial resources in the region, which is why implementation of 9th
EDF projects has already begun. They include a recently approved and signed €125
million programme of budget support for poverty reduction.
The Commissioner will then visit Ghana from 2 November to 2 December. This visit
comes not long after the signing of Ghana’s 9th EDF indicative programme, a fiveyear co-operation programme worth €311 million. Mr Nielson’s schedule includes
meetings with local authorities in the Kumasi region and visits to a number of
projects, including Commission-backed water and small-scale timber-working
projects. In Accra, the Commissioner will meet Ghana’s President, Mr John A.
Kufuor, and the Minister of Finance, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo. Meetings with civil society
and a speech at the University of Legon/Accra are also scheduled.
Mr Nielson will arrive in Mali on 5 December. Later that day he will meet the
President of the Republic, Mr Amadou Toumani Touré, the Prime Minister, Mr
Mohamed Ag Hamani, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Mali
Nationals and EDF national authorising officer, Mr Lassana Traoré. He will also meet
representatives of civil society and various political parties. These meetings will
provide an opportunity to strengthen the political dialogue and co-operation with a
country whose strong commitment to democracy is shown by this year’s presidential
and parliamentary elections. Community aid to Mali is considerable. The country has
received €209 million under the 8th and €375 million under the 9th EDF. On 4 and 5
December will visit the centre of the country where he will inspect a sand invasion
project in Timbuktu and a programme for the creation of small irrigated areas in the
Mopti region. This visit will also enable the Commissioner to witness at first hand the
decentralisation process under way in Mali, a process heavily backed by the EU.
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