"This is historical and demonstrates confidence in the AfDB", says President Donald Kaberuka.

Tunis, 27 November 2007 - The United Kingdom announced on Tuesday, 27 November 2007 that it is doubling its contribution to the 11th replenishment of the African Development Fund (ADF XI), the first shareholder to do so. The UK contribution will be £417 million, approximately US$ 863 million, and effectively twice the amount of its contribution from the previous replenishment.

Accra, 22 November 2007 – The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group President, Donald Kaberuka and the United States Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson have called for intensified Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the development of infrastructure in Africa.

Messrs Kaberuka and Paulson made the call on Monday at the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra during a panel discussion with a cross section of the banking, finance and private sector executives.

Tunis, 21 November 2007 – Kenya, Madagascar and the Gambia are the beneficiaries of loans and grants with a combined value of 167.8 million Units of Account (UA*), about US$263.76 million, approved in Tunis on Wednesday by the Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) the concessional lending arm of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group.

Kenya will receive 156.9 million UA in loans and grants to finance the Nairobi-Thika highway improvement project as well for support services to the boards of its water services.

Tunis, 21 November 2007 - As part of a training workshop on Civic Participation and Engagement in Bank financed projects, the Director of CRMU made a presentation of the Independent Review Mechanism. He emphasized the importance of engaging civil society in the project preparations, of which making people affected by the projects aware of the Bank’s policies and peoples’ right to demand compliance with these policies is vital.