World Bank President to make eight-day African tour

Robert B. Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, is to begin an eight-day, three-nation tour of Africa starting next Tuesday. He will take part in the African Union summit scheduled to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The World Bank boss would first travel to Sierra Leone, then Cote d'Ivoire, and finally heading to Ethiopia for the AU summit. According to a statement from the World Bank, Zoellick is to meet with leaders, donors, investors, and representatives of the civil society, to discuss the ongoing food crisis on the continent and possibilities for economic growth.

"I am visiting Africa to learn about how its people have coped with the global economic crisis and to see how the World Bank Group can work with them to improve prospects for economic growth and expanded opportunity. Much of Africa has a solid record of economic growth, including in some of Africa's fragile states, and it has the potential to be another pole of growth for the world economy," Zoellick said, as quoted by the institution's statement.