The Heads of State of the G5 Sahel, during the summit held on Friday in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso,
provided strong support to the Desert to Power (DtP) initiative, an initiative of the African Development Bank
development ( https://www.AfDB.org/ ).
The summit whose theme was "Harnessing solar energy for the socio-economic development of
G5 Sahel countries", followed a high-level technical meeting attended by ministers
Energy in the region, development partners including the World Bank and institutions
regions such as the West African Economic and Monetary Union and ECOWAS.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, also
took part in this high-level meeting, thus showing its support for this initiative of the Bank.
The objective of Desert to Power is to stimulate the Sahelian economies towards a
increased growth and prosperity.
Facing the press, G5 Sahel President Christian Kabore of Burkina Faso urged the private sector to
support the Desert to Power project and underlined the strategic and crucial role of the supply of
electricity in the Sahel region.
“The African Development Bank is our bank and the private sector must be involved in this.
important initiative for our countries. I have no doubt that with the technical leadership of the AfDB, we will be
able to raise the necessary funds. Access to electricity is essential for development
economic growth, prosperity and security of the G5 Sahel countries", declared Kabore during a conference of
joint press with the President of the African Development Bank Group, Akinwumi Adesina,
closing the Summit.
Adesina outlined the initiative's ambitions to provide 10,000 MW of solar-powered electricity to
250 million people across the Sahel.
“The African Development Bank is fully committed to working with all its partners to
make this energy baobab a success. Your strong political support and your policies to make
affordable solar power across the Sahel will be critically important,” said Adesina.
“Generations of inhabitants of the Sahel have been waiting for the light for too long. Current generations
and future can't wait! And now is the time to act. The time has come for Desert to
Power to provide electricity to everyone in the Sahel,” he urged.
The five priorities of the initiative have been broken down, namely: accelerating the deployment of solar production,
extending and strengthening the electricity transmission network, accelerating electrification through solutions
off-grid, revitalize national electricity companies and improve the business climate to increase
private sector investments.
In their joint statement, the presidents of the G5 Sahel pledged to provide strong support to
the Desert to Power initiative, which aims to make the Sahel the largest solar production area in the world.