The President of Togo, Faure Gnassingbé, arrived yesterday in Glasgow for the launch of the COP26 climate summit.

The West African leader, according to the Togolese Presidency, believes the meeting will allow him to renew his commitment and that of his country regarding climate; the COP26 aims at consolidating commitments made under the Paris Agreement in 2015.

"Committed to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, Togo has recently revised upwards its nationally determined contributions, and intends to call for a collective leap, for immediate action,”  Gnassingbé wrote on Twitter the day before the summit began.

With a strong delegation of private and public actors, Togo hopes to capture as much financing as possible during the COP26 to develop projects that will boost Togo’s resilience against climate change.

After Niger and Burkina Faso, Togo also recently received the World Bank’s support for the Lomé-Ouagadougou-Niamey economic corridor project. Last Friday, Sani Yaya, Togo’s minister of finance, and Coralie Gevers, chief of operations World Bank in Togo, Côte d’Ivoire, and Guinea, signed a financing agreement for $120 million (around CFA68 billion).

The signing was chaired by President Faure Gnassingbé, after the leader met with the World Bank’s VP for Central and West Africa, Ousmane Diagana.

“The President of the Republic has done us the great honor of chairing the signing of the financing agreement for the Lomé-Ouagadougou-Niamey corridor project, which contributes to sub-regional integration. This shows Togo's solidarity with the landlocked countries. The strategic importance of the project is to support the development of economic relations, facilitate the movement of goods and services, and consequently accelerate the development of these three ECOWAS countries,” said Ousmane Diagana after the signing ceremony.

Aside from improving connectivity and advancing integration in the region, the corridor project specifically aligns with Togo’s ambition to become a regional logistics hub. At the heart of this ambition are also the autonomous port of Lomé, Adétikopé’s Industrial Platform (PIA), and its dry port. 

"Several actions are planned. These include the rehabilitation of the Aouda-Kara section, the improvement of access roads to the agropoles of Kara and Oti, the completion of the road safety inspection, and the implementation of corrective actions on the Lomé-Cinkassé axis. Building parking lots along the corridor is also planned," the presidency wrote on its official website.

Klétus Situ

The French Development Agency (AFD) has disbursed CFA35 million to support 10 sports associations and three federations. The beneficiaries won a call for projects launched by the Autonomous District of Grand Lomé (DAGL).

Each of the associations will get CFA2 million while the federations will equally share CFA15 million. The funds will be used to carry out sports initiatives that foster good environmental practices and boost citizen engagement in the management of urban environments.

Regarding the call for projects, it was launched last March. It falls under the implementation of the fourth component of the third phase of the Urban Environment Project of Lomé (PEUL III). The component concerns “Sports and Development.” 

Through the initiative, the DAGL hopes to promote sports activities across the country. “Sports is not only responsible for the environment, but it also has to bring the ecological message to its audience. Raising awareness and making people responsible is a mission that we expect. I expect a lot from you and I hope that your initiatives can contribute to the improvement of our living conditions in the Grand Lomé,” said Tagba A. Tchalim, secretary-general of the DAGL. 

“This call for projects is also aimed at raising awareness about actions that could pair sports with environmental protection,” said for his part the deputy director of AFD, Jildaz Evin.

Esaïe Edoh 

It is with great pride that PIA announces its partnership with the MAERSK LINE group, the world's largest shipping company.

MAERSK will put its expertise and all of its means at the service of the Dry Port of PIA. 

This is a great success for the whole PIA team but also for TOGO, for which this dry port will be a huge asset, in addition to all the industries being set up on the platform.

PIA, at the service of Togo’s industrialization. 

In Togo, the project to provide basic health services of quality, under the universal health coverage target, was started yesterday, Oct. 28. The project was launched by the PM Victoire Tomegah-Dogbe, and the World Bank’s Vice President for Central and West Africa, Ousmane Diagana, who is currently in Togo.

Financed by the World Bank ($70 million), this project aims to improve access to basic health and nutrition services as well as healthcare for pregnant women, children, and poor people. 

"This new project, which will extend to all regions of Togo, with health coverage for about 60% of the population, marks a significant step forward in the government's commitment to strengthen access to equitable quality healthcare for the entire population," said Ousmane Diagana, at the launch of the initiative at the Cacaveli Health Center in Lomé

In detail, the mechanism plans to build about 100 new primary health facilities, deploy around 4,000 newly-trained health workers, and improve access to drugs, the World Bank said.

A few weeks ago, the Togolese government adopted a work plan covering the July 2021-December 2022 period. The adoption was overseen by PM Tomegah-Dogbe. According to this plan, the first step of the recently started project will take 18 months.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The Togolese minister of maritime economy, Edem Kokou Tengué, presented during the latest council of ministers held on Oct. 27, the main functionalities of the single desk for non-tax revenues generated in the sector he oversees.

The goal of the presentation was to get the government’s approval to start drawing the draft bill that will help set up the desk. 

According to the council, this facility “will help, in the long run, simplify operations for actors of the port economy in line with the country’s ambition to become a logistics hub.”

It should be noted that the latest data made available by the government shows that 70% of Togo’s economic activity is tied to the sea. Lomé also stressed that “trade by sea, taking place via the port of Lomé, makes up a major share of the State’s revenues.” 

Esaïe Edoh

Most of the concentrated tomato imported into Togo contains too much lead and could harm consumers, according to the Togolese Association of Consumers (TAC) and the Organization for Food and Local Development (OADEL).

The two entities released, in the framework of the ongoing consuming local month, results of studies they carried out in partnership with the Togolese Institute for Agricultural Research (ITRA). 

“We worked with ITRA’s laboratories and were surprised to find that over 62% of tomatoes imported have lead levels that exceed the norm,” said Amétoégninou Tata (picture), executive director OADEL. “I believe this should alert our authorities (...) if we want to promote local products, we can’t accept low-cost imported products that compete unfairly with our local products. Moreover, they harm our health,” he added.

Based on their findings, the TAC and OADEL“made recommendations first to the director of external trade and suggested that he does everything to make sure that tomatoes that enter the territory are analyzed and get a quality certification,” said Léon Koffi Agboka, member of the TAC. According to him, the certificate will regulate the sales of imported tomatoes in Togo. 

The two parties also asked for more experts to be dispatched on the field, for better monitoring of products concerned. 

Besides warning populations about the risks of consuming imported tomatoes, the TAC and OADEL used the opportunity to encourage them to consume local products more. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi