A meeting between the Government and technical and financial partners was held last Friday. At the end of the work, all the Technical partners and Finanicers adhere to the project and some have given their positions.
For the representative of UNAIDS, Dr. Eric Verschueren, his institution is strongly challenged on issues of harmony and social inclusion.
"As a United Nations agency, taking into account people living with HIV, we are strongly challenged at the level of the first axis, which is harmony and social inclusion. We will support the government for these vulnerable people by providing them with care, in order to avoid new infections as much as possible, while reducing the level of discrimination and stigmatization towards this target of the population. Currently, UNAIDS is redefining its strategic plan for the next five years, whose actions will likely focus on gender, human rights and social protection outside of the prevention and treatment of HIV AIDS infections that we usually do," said Dr. Eric Verschueren.
In the opinion of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations system in Togo (UNDP), Mr. Damien Mama, this meeting, organized by the Prime Minister, is timely, because it allowed the partners to understand the content of the government roadmap 2020-2025.
Ms. Hawa Wagué (World Bank)
and Damien Mama (United Nations system)
"It also allowed us to dialogue with the government on the content of its priorities which, in our opinion, are absolutely in line with the commitments that Togo has made at the international level and also the commitments that the Head of State made during the presidential election. I find many similarities with the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals and we are pleased that the government has focused the number one axis of the roadmap on inclusion and the promotion of peace and stability. There is a very good convergence. It is in this sense that we will continue to ensure good coherence between the agenda and the government's priorities, ensuring that national leadership, the principle of mutual accountability and results-based management are respected as has been retained in international aid coordination instruments. Axis one is of great interest to us because, positioning itself as one of the priorities of the United Nations, priorities that aim among others at equality, social well-being," said Mr. Damien Mama.
Digital, land, health and education, interests for the United States.
According to the Ambassador of the United States of America, Eric William Stromayer, his country is one of togo's long-term partners. He said that "the government's roadmap includes key details that are the priorities of the partnership between our two states. We are already engaged in the digital, land, health and education sectors. We are then selected on major axes that have been presented and I am delighted that the partnership will continue and open up to agriculture and the blue economy why not".
The Head of the Union
Delegation European (EU) in Togo, Mr Joaquin Tasso Vilallonga, stressed that he considers these three axes to be extremely important.
"We congratulate the government on this initiative and thank them for this opportunity to discuss their priorities. We particularly appreciate the issue of social inclusion, job creation, investments, and the improvement of the business climate. The importance of strengthening economic governance was stressed. We align ourselves with the government's priorities because there is a coincidence of priorities between the EU and Togo, particularly in the field of social security and decentralisation. This allows us to better articulate cooperation between the EU and Togo," said Joaquin Tasso Vilallonga.
China promises to mobilize the various operators to support Togo
For his part, the Chinese Ambassador to Togo, Mr. Chao Weidong, stressed that he was waiting a very long time for this meeting and praised the government for this initiative.
Chao Weidong
(China) and Dr Eric Verschueren (UNAIDS)
According to him, "China is ready to support Togo in the realization of this roadmap. Given the very important objectives and ambitions, we will put in place a strategy encompassing the points of common development interest so that cooperation is more fruitful. Therefore, we will discuss with the various sectoral ministries to define the feasibility. Their projects, ambitions and objectives will be presented to Chinese communities present in Togo, as well as to companies in China. We promise to mobilize the various operators to support Togo in achieving its objectives. In short, we will work on several levels, with the public and private sector."
For the Ambassador of France, Ms. Jocelyne Caballero, "this exercise of dialogue, explanation and transparency reflects the coherence and approach of this roadmap. During the presentation, the France was mentioned several times, since the France accompanies Togo in many sectors. From this five-year agenda, we will adapt our cooperation offer to government initiatives. We are already positioned on access to basic services, education, vocational training, and we are also there thanks to the COVID-19 crisis. To this end, we participated in the Novissi programme with three million euros. A priori, the decentralization program will benefit from added value, in order to help the populations to face this new responsibility".
In the opinion of the representative of the World Bank, Mrs. Hawa Cissé Wagué, "the 2020-2025 roadmap is very pragmatic with selected projects very mature to implement for the well-being of the Togolese population. The three axes it contains will allow Togo to modernize and emerge. We congratulate Togo for its resilience in the COVID-19 crisis and our support during this period shows our flexibility in responding to the government's priorities. Our strategy and partnership with Togo align very well with this roadmap, because we are focusing on the development of human capital, which is the first axis. We will try to support the biometric identification project and universal health coverage for the country while at the same time ensuring education. We will focus on agriculture and transport to be able to connect Togo with other countries and ensure regional integration in Axis 2. Axis 3 is also important and we will try it in. Given our limited resources, we will have selective projects."