Lake Victoria Basin Commission Projects - Donor commitments are solid
2 July 2013
Tunis, Tunisia, 26th June 2013:
The Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC), with support from the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA), the government of Sweden and the government of Finland organised the 3rd Lake Victoria Basin Donors’ Conference last week in Entebbe, Uganda. It was an over-whelming success.
The Conference was attended by representatives of various international development partners, including the African Development Bank, the Embassy of Japan, the Embassy of Belgium, NORAD, USAID, IFAD, UNEP, PACKARD Foundation, the World Meteorological Organisation, the IFC, the French Development Agency, DfID, FAO, The European Union, and SNV.
In his statement during the opening of the Conference on Monday, June 17th, the Vice President of the Republic of Uganda, His Excellency Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, expressed concern about the degradation of the natural vegetation in the Lake Victoria Basin region as well as the rising population density putting pressure on the Basin. ”All these issues have social and economic implication for our people and nations” he said.
LVBC presented, for consideration, 22 project concept notes in three thematic areas: 1) environmental stewardship and natural resource management; 2) economic and infrastructure development; as well as health access to water and sanitation. During discussions with Development Partners, LVBC received new promises of specific support from almost every donor.
The Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA); a co-sponsor of the conference – is a Tunisia-based membership organization of G8 members. ICA is dedicated to mobilizing resources for infrastructure projects in Africa– and was represented in Entebbe by several staff members. In his remarks at the end of the conference, ICA Coordinator, Mohamed Hassan said, "… We [all] came here because of the need to mobilize resources … we have been successful in this endeavor … we encourage you to keep up the momentum … and to follow-up with your new professional friends and colleagues. These relationships are valuable … like the Lake Victoria Basin itself, these relationships have tremendous potential …"
Lake Victoria Basin Commission Executive Secretary commented in a post conference interview – "… The service we received from The Infrastructure Consortium for Africa was beyond what we could imagine from a resource mobilization organization … it exceeded our expectations … and the LVBC team is now committed to following up with road map of activities to get these projects started …"
For more information, please contact:
In Tunis: Susan Wood, Infrastructure Consortium for Africa; Tel: +216 7110 1230, Email: s.wood@afdb.org
Read more:
newvision.co.ug
monitor.co.ug
Categories: General News, ICA Press Releases