The Africa Global Logistics representative, drawing on his group's experience, called for a "Marshall Plan" to get Africa's railways moving again.

Mohamed Diop believes that "Africa's connectivity will come through rail". Taking part in session 4 of the Dakar International Forum on rail project financing, Agl's Regional Director for Atlantic Africa called for a kind of "Marshall Plan" to get Africa's railroads back on track.

The forum, opened the day before yesterday by Prime Minister Amadou Ba, was attended by African rail giants Agl Rail, Sitarail (Côte d'Ivoire) and Camrail (Cameroon), whose delegations included Mr Arnould Cottin (Deputy Managing Director, Agl Rail), Mr Racim Lainceur (Operations Coordinator, Agl Rail), Mr Pascal Miny (Managing Director, Camrail-Cameroon) and Mr Simplice Essoh (Central Development Director, Sitarail).

He also emphasized that "the participation of our 2 rail subsidiaries, Sitarail (Burkina Faso-Côte d'Ivoire) and Camrail (Cameroon), in this important meeting on the future of African railways bears witness to the firm commitment of the Agl Group (Africa Global Logistics) to work alongside the governments of Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Cameroon to develop and modernize their rail networks and their socio-economic impact on our countries".

The forum, organized by the National Society of Railways of Senegal, in partnership with the International Union of Railways (UIC), was organized under the theme: «The financing of rail projects in Africa: the future of rail in Africa» and aims, according to UFS, 'to stimulate and reinvigorate the development of railways in Africa'.

Its aim was to encourage ownership of the development of the rail sector in Africa, to bring together and mobilize stakeholders in the sector, political decision-makers, representatives of railways and the industry, technical bodies, rail experts, economists and key players in financing, to identify major investment projects at national and international level, to identify financing mechanisms, to strengthen public-private partnerships and to develop cooperation between States through strategic support for projects with a regional and sub-regional vocation, according to the event's moderators.

During the 4 discussion sessions held on Thursday after the opening ceremony, session 4, whose theme was "How to mobilize financing for rail infrastructure", was particularly instructive.

Panellists included Pierre Pozzo Di Borgo, Chief Industry Specialist, Société financière internationale (Sfi), Ibou Diouf, Transport Practice Manager for West Africa, World Bank Group, Mohamed Cherif, Country Manager-Senegal, Head of Division, African Development Bank (ADB), Mohamed Diop, José Cordovilla, Director of Infrastructure Advisory Services, Typsa, and Prof. Khumbulani Mpofu, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa.

And Mr. Mohamed Diop's speech was one of the most striking, especially when he insisted on the need to apply a "Marshall Plan" to African railroads, to finally get the train whistling for Africa's development.

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