Niamey, 7 May 2014 (ECA) – During an official visit to Niger in May at the invitation of President Issoufou Mahamadou, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Mr. Carlos Lopes held meetings with high level officials on areas of mutual interest related to his vision for the ECA and for Africa. He said the vision entails accompanying African states in the structural transformation of their respective economies through industrialization.
Mr. Lopes also stressed the importance of addressing data and measurement problems in the transformation process and underlined the ECA’S mandate in this regard. He noted that the ECA Subregional Office for West Africa was looking into addressing the challenges of preparing it to play its role as a Data Center to serve the subregion. In discussions with the officials, they discussed the challenges related to the strengthening ECA’S role in support of the development efforts of the subregion and undertook commitments to discuss the ways and means of meeting the challenges for the good of the entire sub-region.
During his stay, Mr. Lopes held a working session at the Ministry of Planning with the Ministers of State, Planning, and Land Improvement. The discussions centered on industrialization, the work underway on the prospective analyses for the preparation of the Vision 2035 of Niger, economic partnerships, the negotiation of contracts between African states and multi-nationals for the exploitation of natural resources and the financing of industrialization.
During the course of this visit, Mr. Lopes was received by President Mahamadou Issoufou to share his vision for the development of Niger and Africa in view of his leadership in various capacities, notably as co-chair with the President of Ghana on the issue of a single currency in the ECOWAS zone as well as his role as chair of the Lake Chad Basin Commission.
The Executive Secretary of the ECA also met with the President of the National Assembly, Mr. Hama Amadou as well as the Prime Minister, Mr. Brigi Rafini, followed by working sessions with several ministers, including the Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and African Integration in charge of Nigeriens abroad, Mr. Bazoum Mohamed, the Minister delegate of the Minister of State, Minister of Mines and Industrial Development, in charge of Industrial Development, Mrs. Rakiatou Amadou Jackou, and the Minister delegate of the Minister of Finance, in charge of the Budget, Mr. Mohamed Bouchar.
The Executive Secretary also took advantage of his visit to meet officials of the United Nations System in Niger and the staff of the ECA Sub-Regional Office for West Africa.
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