US to sign on to West African Development BankBy XINHUA | Monday, May 14  2012 at  12:37

The United States will soon become the strategic partner of the West African Development Bank (BOAD) which is the financial institution of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), a well placed source from the institution in Lome told Xinhua Friday.

This revelation was made by the BOAD president Christian Adovelande during the signing of an agreement for promotion of cashew nuts transformation industry.

The agreement was signed together with the West African deputy director for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Lisa Franchette and the director general for African Cashew Alliance (ACA) Christian Dahm.

The negotiations in this regard were held in the US and will soon be followed by the concretisation of this partnership.

Currently, BOAD has other strategic partner countries which include France, Germany and China which recently, through the China Development Bank (CBD), gave BOAD a loan of 60 million euros to fund private sector activities within the UEMAO zone.

China became a partner to BOAD in 2004 when she disbursed a loan of 8 billion Fcfa, becoming the second biggest financial partner behind France.

The West African Economic and Monetary Union is an organisation of eight West African states which include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo and Guinea-Bissau. (XINHUA)