OREANDA-NEWS. September 20, 2016. The Bank’s mission, led by Secretary General Nmehielle and the Director and Chairperson of the Permanent Committee for Annual Meetings (PECAM), Nnenna Nwabufo, reviewed facilities at the Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre, which will be the main venue of the meetings. They also visited major hotels in the city and exchanged with Gujarat and Delhi authorities on the need for adequate facilities for the Meetings in the areas of transportation, health, security, media and other important services required for the event.

Members of the Bank delegation included the Head of AfDB Security, William Godbout; Travel and Logistics Manager, Christian Dossou; Chief Medical Officer, Nelly Iteba; Principal Conference Management Specialist, Mahamat Bardi; Principal Information Officer, Felix Njoku; Principal Protocol Officer, Andr? Basse; Senior IT Network Engineer, Rasmane Ouedraogo; and Events Management Officer, Germain Yao.

The team also met with public- and private-sector partners and service providers, including hotel, airline and telecom operators, as well the top hierarchies in the finance, security, immigration and tourism services in the State of Gujarat and in Delhi, for discussions on how to make good and effective delivery of these services to ensure the success of the Annual Meetings.

India, with a population of 1.3 billion, covers the South Asian sub-continental landmass. Delhi joined the African Development Bank in 1982. The country is a key member of the institution’s 24 Non-Regional Member Countries, which support the African Development Fund (ADF), the concessional resource window of the Bank

Group. In 2013, Delhi increased its contribution to the 13th replenishment of the Fund by 57.28% to US \\$18.5 million (INR 1.03 billion), among other investments.

The country continues to strengthen its relations with Africa, accounting for investments estimated at US \\$7.4 billion, mostly lines of credit channeled through the Export-Import Bank of India, for the implementation of 137 projects in 41 countries across Africa.

The next Annual Meetings preparatory mission is scheduled to take place in January 2017.