For Africa's new technical assistance centers, ownership and accountability will be critical

• Author: Mario de Zamaróczy
• Position: IMF Office of Technical Assistance Management
• Pages: 185-190

Page 185

On May 29, the Malian government and the IMF hosted an inaugural ceremony in Bamako,Mali, for the West Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center-West AFRITAC.

The new center is designed to strengthen the effectiveness of IMF technical assistance and build institutional capacity in the center's 10 participating countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea Bissau,Mali,Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. The new center, like its sister organization based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is intended to further the goals of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and stresses country involvement.West AFRITAC has already identified its first set ofPage 186priorities: improved public expenditure and public debt management, enhanced customs and tax administration, strengthened supervision of microfinance institutions, and more robust economic statistics.

West AFRITAC aims to foster synergies

African decisionmakers have a critical role to play in the newly created AFRITACs, and Mali's Prime Minister, Ahmed Mohamed Ag Hamani, highlighted both ownership and accountability in his remarks at the West AFRITAC opening. These centers, he reminded the gathering, are a welcome product of, and a complement to, the ambitious goals and new vision that NEPAD represents. Charles Konan Banny, the Governor of the Banque des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (BCEAO), also underscored the regional nature of the new center and the potential boost it can give to regional integration efforts.

In his remarks, IMF Deputy Managing Director Eduardo Aninat stressed how much the establishment of West AFRITAC has been the product of "close collaboration among many partners."He cited, in particular, the authorities in the center's member countries, the donors, the African Capacity Building Foundation, NEPAD, and the World Bank. Aninat expressed particular gratitude for Governor Banny's leadership and BCEAO's generous provision of excellent facilities for the center in Bamako.

The ceremony-which drew finance ministers, governors and national directors of central banks, and other senior officials from the participating countries; and representatives from bilateral and multilateral donors-celebrated the second regional technical assistance center to be opened in Africa.

East AFRITAC was inaugurated in Dar es...