The African Development Bank opens office in Algiers

ALGIERS - The African Development Bank (ADB) opened an office in Algiers, which is now operational," said Sunday Assitan Diarra-Thioune, resident representative of this institution in Algeria, during a meeting with the press.

•    "The opening of this office, the 25th in Africa, is part of the decentralization of the ADB and we will focus our work mainly on technical assistance and advice," added Ms. Diarra-Thioune. 
  
•    Founding member of the bank which is the 4th African shareholder, "Algeria has in fact started in 2006 a procedure for recovery of all its loans from ADB and can only finance its investment programs,  she has added. 
  
     "We agreed with the authorities of a legal intervention, and our actions, as regards in particular the private sector, will be in conformity with the Algerian law," she said. 
  
     on December 31, 2009, ADB had approved 30 operations for Algeria on 23 projects of an amount of $ 3.2 billion, as lines of credit, technical assistance programs or support reforms, according to the African bank. 
  
     The ADB has provided a guarantee from a bank of Algeria to allow a private company leasing to obtain the financial resources intended to support small and medium enterprises in their investment, "noted Ms. Diarra-Thioune. 
  
     An agreement was also signed with the Ministry of Finance for three projects of $ 900,000 each in grants, including one on the reform of the banking system, said the representative of ADB. 
  
     The office of ADB, which has the status of diplomatic missions, will be officially inaugurated on Thursday by the bank president Donald Kaberuka and the Algerian Ministers of Foreign Affairs Mourad Medelci and Finance Karim Djoudi.
  
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.