Dakar, May 12, GNA - Participants to the 2009 Annual Meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group are in Dakar, Senegal, on Monday to begin the event.

The Meeting, which is under the theme; "Africa and the Financial Crisis: An Agenda for Action", is taking place at the King Fahd Complex Conference Centre in the Meridian President Hotel.

It will be preceded by High Level Ministerial sessions and Seminars on current economic and development issues, notably the prevailing global financial crisis as well as urgent challenges facing the continent.

The AfDB's Annual Meeting, usually held in May, is the biggest gathering of financial and development experts on the continent. Finance ministers, senior government officials, business leaders, academics, media, and representatives of international organizations and civil society, make up the over 1,500 participants attending the Meeting. Governors, usually Finance and Economy Ministers and central Bank governors representing the 77-member countries (53 Regional and 24 non-Regional countries), constitute the AfDB's highest policy-making body.

The annual meetings are statutory occasions for the governors to review the Bank Group's administrative, financial and operational activities in the past financial year and provide guidance on the future operations of the Bank Group.

This year, activities leading up to the Board sessions include a Ministerial Roundtable on "Africa and the Financial Crisis: An Agenda for Action" to be co-chaired by Bank Group: President Donald Kaberuka and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Executive Secretary, Abdoulie Janneh.

This will be followed by High-Level Seminars on "The Financial Crisis and Fragile States"; "The Financial Crisis, Regional Integration and Trade"; "The Financial Crisis and Economic Reforms: Options for the future"; "The Financial Crisis and Access to Finance"; and "The Challenges of Food Security in Africa and the Responses of International Institutions".

This will be followed by the Dissemination of the "Africa Economic Outlook", a key publication jointly produced by the Bank Group and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which analyses critical aspects of African economic performance. Participants will discuss other key issues including "African Capital Markets/Making Finance Work for Africa", followed by a presentation of the Bank Group's 2008 "African Development Report". Also on the agenda is an African Business Leadership Award, followed by discussions on the "Strategic Role of Procurement in Improving Performance and Development Effectiveness" and "China-Africa Trade, Investment and Policy Issues", among others.

Representatives of the civil society and nongovernmental organizations will participate in the meetings and sessions. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade is scheduled to preside over the formal opening session on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Ghana's Vice President John Dramani Mahama, and President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso are scheduled to attend the session.