EU commits €5bn for development of Sahel region

A new EU funding for the Sahel region for the period 2014 and 2020 is expected to be announced Monday by EU Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, during a joint visit to the Sahel region with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and African Development Bank President, Donald Kaberuka. This support of some 5 billion euro to Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal and Chad will aim to help those countries tackle the specific and complex challenges of the Sahel region: security and stability and development, noted a statement here today. Commissioner Piebalgs stated that "the Sahel is a priority for the EU where it mobilizes all its instruments to address a complex situation. We are determined to continue and increase our support to both the States and people of the Sahel. Our approach is built on the principle that security is a pre-requisite for growth - there can be no development without it." The joint High Level visit - the first ever to include five leaders from amongst the multilateral institutions and the organisations most active in the field of security and development in the Sahel - begins today in Mali, before continuing to Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad, and will include meetings with Presidents, ministers, members of National Assemblies, leaders of civil society groups and private sector representatives in the region.