African Presidents Exchange Ideas On Efforts To Reduce Poverty As AfDB AGM Opens

A presidential dialogue which became a special feature of the day two activities of the ongoing Africa Development Bank (AfDB) program saw some African leaders trading in ideas to reduce poverty.

The dialogue was conducted within the context of how their economies are being reinforced to absorb the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the debilitating effects of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Rwandan representative of President Paul Kagame, Prime Minister, Mr Edouard Ngirente, disclosed that his country has introduced several policy decisions to stop the importation of agricultural seeds.

He said Rwanda was spending a huge sum of her scarce foreign exchange to import them.

Mr Ngirente also announced that the importation of fertilizer will soon be a thing of the past as a plant to produce the input locally is almost complete.

Mr Ngirente also noted that as a measure to encourage more youths to go into agriculture, the government has as a policy, reduced interest rates under a special project on agriculture incentives for the youth.

For his part, the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said adding value to Ghana’s major export product, cocoa, has led him to collaborate with his Ivorian counterpart to process about 10 per cent of their total yield.

The Tanzanian leader expressed gratitude to the managers of AfDB for extensively improving her country’s road infrastructure which has given a big boost to the local economy through an improved trade within and with her neighbors.