FB. Good afternoon Mr President

K. Good afternoon.

F.B. Thank you for granting us this interview. You are just back from India, we have seen that India is going to be playing an important role. Could you tell us more about the new partnership being developed with your bank?

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K. You know people tend to talk about China: Sino-African, Sino-African. As my friend Ping said: ‘Why not China?’ Well there is also India and Brazil. So we are in the process of developing partnerships. I was in India to talk with the government there and we are working on an agreement with the country’s Exim Bank. I was particularly interested in the Indian railways because the ADB has a programme to renovate African railways. I was also interested in India’s ‘silicon valley’ in Bangalore. 20 years ago this was a very poor state and it is now the home to India’s own California. So this was a partnership that involved certain financial elements but there were also lessons to be learned. As I said this morning, in the 1960’s agriculture accounted for 50% of India’s GDP, the figure is now 18% and the service sector has taken over even if agriculture is still extremely important. That’s why I think it’s the ADB’s mission to gradually prepare this kind of development.

F.B. Why do you think it worked in India but hasn’t yet worked in Africa? 

K. Well India is a continent with a billon inhabitants, it’s one continent and one country. Africa is a continent with a billon inhabitants but 53 countries, over 20 currencies, even more frontiers and no integration. It’s easy to see that we are not starting from the same situation. I would say the same for Brazil which is a huge federation where the potential – as in India and China – is not like ours. We have our history and our geography which is why the continent’s regional and economic integration is very important if the Bank is to do its job.

F.B. One final question to get back to the conference: there were, of course, a lot of specialists and a lot of speeches … now we hope to see something concrete. Do you think we will soon see action replace words?

K. First of all it’s not just another conference … I know that there are a lot of conferences in Africa and about Africa but this was not yet another conference. With our colleagues from the ASEAN (it’s an organization not to be read) and the African Union we are bringing together African economists and intellectuals and our friends in the diaspora who are working on the African economy. This is very important because they are getting to grips with the problem, to create endogenous agendas and providing politicians and decision-makers with a potential course of action.

F.B. Thank you very much Mr President.

K.   Thank you.         

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