News Brief No. 99/19

News Brief: The IMF and the African Development Bank Sign Memorandum of Understanding to Establish Joint Africa Institute

April 25, 1999

In Washington on April 25, 1999, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a Joint Africa Institute (JAI), in which the World Bank will also be a partner. The Memorandum will be signed by the World Bank and the AfDB on April 26.

The JAI, located at AfDB’s headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, is being established to provide training in economic policy and management to government officials and other participants from Africa. The JAI is part of the IMF’s new strategy to increase training opportunities for member country officials in their own countries or regions. By creating regional institutes worldwide, the IMF is seeking to establish long-term training partnerships with its member countries.

The courses to be offered by the JAI will focus on macroeconomic management and policies, and on structural, social, and project-related issues, such as governance, poverty alleviation, gender, growth, and the environment. The JAI will also organize seminars on topical development issues, using the most modern distance learning facilities as an integral part of its training activities. The JAI will be operational later this year.

Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of the IMF, welcomed the establishment of the JAI saying; "The new institute will make an important contribution to meeting the critical training needs of Africa. It will contribute to building up the institutional capacity of national governments to better manage their economies and to take upon themselves the further training of their economic and financial managers," he said.