It is possible that Ethiopia could reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the World Bank Senior Vice President Francois Bourguignon has said. He was speaking at a briefing for journalists after meeting with senior Ethiopian government officials on 11th October, ahead of the fourth African Development Forum. It was later announced that James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank, will also be in Addis Ababa from tomorrow on an official visit.  

Monsieur Bourguignon commended the country’s efforts towards meeting the MDGs and said that “remarkable achievements have been registered in different areas that put the country [near the] top of the list of developing countries.”

He said that Ethiopia had undertaken a number of ‘promising’ activities in areas such as governance, education, health, rural development and sanitation, and added that the World Bank would do its level best to support the acceleration of development work for the attainment of the MDGs by 2015.

“With the right amount of aid and a good level of implementation of the government’s development policies, possibilities are high that Ethiopia should reach the MDGs,” he said. The Vice-President also talked of the work carried out in improving the country’s communications sector, banking systems and tax administration, and underscored the importance of continuing those efforts in order to attract more foreign investment.  

He went on to say that his discussions with government officials focused on what should be done to enable Ethiopia to realise the MDGs, which were established by the United Nations as part of a drive to halve the level of poverty by 2015.

Details of the four-day official working visit to Ethiopia by the President of the World Bank were also made available. Mr Wolfensohn, visiting Ethiopia for the third time, is expected to hold high-level talks with government officials and is scheduled to visit development activities in the various states of Ethiopia.

ENDS