Your Excellency, the President of the Republic of Chad,

Your Excellencies, the Heads of State,

Honorable and Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

Today we are celebrating not only the culmination of a project, but even more, the advent of a new era for Chad. A culmination because in fact, the infrastructures and equipment which we see around us are the fruit of years of preparation and construction. I was here three years ago with some of you to celebrate the start of this vast project, so it is with great personal satisfaction that I am coming back to celebrate its completion.

Rarely has a project been examined so thoroughly, discussed and challenged so much. The concerns about this project’s effects on the environment turned out to be groundless. The questions about the efficient use of the oil revenues remain. Like our colleagues at the World Bank, we are going to follow with the utmost interest the way these revenues will be put to the service of Chad’s economic and social development.

In many countries oil development has resulted in a decline of the other sectors of the economy. It is essential that this trap be avoided in Chad in order to ensure economic growth which can alleviate poverty over the long term. The private sector in Chad, which is the main driving force behind this growth, remains very weak. The constraints to its development are many and well known. It is essential that every effort be made to reduce these constraints. Priority actions which should be taken include the continuation of prudent macro-economic management, improvement in the business climate as a result of better governance, the development of infrastructures, a decrease in the cost of essential services, in particular the cost of energy, and the strengthening of the financial sector to better support private initiatives, especially small scale initiatives.

During the construction phase of the pipeline, the International Financial Corporation put in place a series of measures to enable local private companies to benefit from the business opportunities created by the project. These measures have already had some concrete results. We intend to continue them and to expand them in order to also promote private activity in sectors outside of oil.

Mr. President, together we have taken up the challenge of the construction of the Chad/Cameroon pipeline and of the development of Chad’s oil potential. The energy crisis which continues in Chad represents another challenge. Our colleagues from the World Bank are committed on our side to implement solutions to this crisis. We are willing to support any initiative making it possible to link private interests to the development of this sector, which has a key role to play for the economic activity of the country and for the well-being of the people.

We are not at the end of construction. In fact, it is the beginning.

Thank you.