As the continent`s leading financial institution, the Bank plays a leading role in covering the financing needs of African countries. The signing of the PAGODA Partnership Agreement and these five specific infrastructure projects shows AfDB`s role in using partner institutions to have a greater impact on development. The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the European Commission signed, on Monday 27 November 2017, five co-financing agreements to support road infrastructure projects in West Africa. These cooperation agreements are part of a historic framework agreement known as the Pillar Assessed Grant or Delegation Agreement (PAGODA) between the banking group and the European Commission (EC) of 25 September 2017. These include blended finance instruments to mobilize funds to help implement the Bank`s priorities: lighting and delivering energy to Africa, feeding Africa, integrating Africa, industrializing Africa, and improving the quality of life of the African people. According to Mr. Boamah, the signing of the delegation agreements “shows the strong partnership between the Bank and the European Commission. We are on the right track and I am confident that our cooperation will continue to grow. For the Bank, PAGODA goes beyond a simple financing framework. The stakes are much higher: we must deliver on our commitment to fight poverty by mobilizing additional partners and resources to achieve better results and impacts.

The agreements were signed by Stefano Manservisi, Director General of the European Commission for International Cooperation and Development, and Charles Boamah, Senior Vice-President of afDB, at the 6th EU-Africa Economic Forum in Abidjan. The Presidents of the Economic Community of West African States and WAEMU, West African Ministers of Transport and several donors were present at the signing ceremony. The PAGODA agreements will help finance the rehabilitation of the Lome-Cotonou road, studies and measures to facilitate trade and traffic on the Abidjan-Lagos corridor, the development of roads and traffic facilitation on the Bamako-San Pedro corridor between Mali and Côte d`Ivoire, as well as the construction of the Rosso Bridge between Mauritania and Senegal and the rehabilitation of the CU2a road section in Burkina Faso, near the border with Niger. .