Since Wednesday, May 3, World Bank Group leaders have been at a strategic meeting at the Cotonou International Conference Center. This meeting will end on Friday 5 May.

Ils étaient une centaine de cadres du groupe de la World Bank for a strategy meeting. A delegation of the Group headed by the Vice-President for West and Central Africa was received, on Tuesday, 2 May 2023, in audience at the Palais de la Marina, by the Head of State Patrice Talon on the sidelines of the activities of the three-day meeting. This is the first time that this meeting has taken place outside Washington DC. According to Ousmane Diagana, Vice President for West and Central Africa, after leaving the hearing, they “considered that Benin is an appropriate place for this type of exchange given the significant progress that the country has made in recent years in terms of infrastructure development and people's access to basic services (water, education, health, energy).”

Similarly, the bank took into account the “development challenges that remain posed, challenges exacerbated by the crises the world is facing, the effects of Covid-19, climate change, the impact of the war in Ukraine on economies but also on populations” he added.