Niamey, 27 February, 2017 (ECA) - The Government of Niger, in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa’s (ECA) Sub-Regional Office for West Africa, on Monday established an Inter-Ministerial Working Group in charge of developing a National Strategy for the Promotion of Regional Development Poles in Niger.
The Working Group will craft a strategy to promote growth poles in zones that present opportunities for creating value chains around promising industries such as agriculture, livestock, tourism, mines and agro-food. The implementation of such a strategy would ensure food security and regional equilibrium by reducing development disparities, generating robust and inclusive economic growth, creating jobs and improving the living conditions of the population as a whole.
Contributing to the establishment of such entity, which is expected to propel Niger towards the structural transformation of its economy, is part of ECA’s duties to Member States, as explained by Dimitri Sanga, Director of ECA’s Sub-Regional Office for West Africa.
“ECA has a mission to provide Member States with appropriate technical assistance through knowledge generation and support for the formulation of development policies and plans. ECA is also prepared to accompany the Government in the field of advocacy to mobilise technical and financial partners in order to ensure the formulation of a realistic and feasible strategy, and its and effective implementation.”
For his part, Niger’s Minister of Community Development and Land Use Planning, Amani Abdou, says the National Strategy, to be developed by the Working Group, will provide his country with a clear vision to promote local economic development, the growth of individual and collective prosperity and the creation of sustainable jobs for youth and women.
Mr. Abdou explained that, “the problem of regional and local development in general and that of the promotion of regional development poles in particular is of central importance to Niger, in view of certain key elements of the natural and institutional context which characterise our country.”
ECA’s role in the next stages of this project includes the organisation of a study trip to Burkina Faso to learn from their BAGREPOLE experience, the formulation of the strategy by the executives of Niger’s Ministry of Community Development and Land Use Planning with ECA’s support, and the validation of the strategy through the organisation of a national workshop.
Issued by:
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: ecainfo@uneca.org