News Brief

Horst Köhler, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will visit Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Ghana during April 28-May 3, 2002.

Mr. Köhler will have discussions with President Mkapa of Tanzania, President Kabila of Democratic Republic of Congo, President Gbagbo of Côte d'Ivoire, President Compaoré of Burkina Faso, President Kufuor of Ghana, and other authorities of these countries.

In addition to these bilateral meetings, the focus of the visit, which is Mr. Köhler's third to Africa since assuming office as Managing Director of the IMF on May 1, 2000, will be his participation in a series of workshop discussions with the authorities, members of legislatures, civil society organizations and academics on a range of topics of importance to Africa. These will include consideration of lessons from the IMF's recent reviews of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF); systems for monitoring progress toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals; and steps to accelerate the development of financial sectors in African countries. Mr. Köhler will also discuss the establishment of regional technical assistance centers in Africa, built on the successful model of those in the Pacific and Caribbean.

In Accra, Mr. Köhler will attend the inaugural meeting, hosted by President Kufuor, of the Investors' Advisory Council for Ghana, a forum for promoting dialogue between the government and senior executives of local and multinational companies on ways to improve the investment climate.