Sub-Saharan Africa
With this area of the world being the first recipient of public funding for development allocated by France, many administrative technical assistance programmes take place there. They involve both the agency Adetef and the main boards of the economic and finance ministries.
Adetef provides public expertise from ministries, often in partnership with other agencies, in cooperation projects financed by France, the European Union (and the European Development Fund) or by a multilateral development bank.
In 2009 and 2010, and worth notable mention among the actions carried out, was a study on forest taxation (Central Africa), training in public accounting (Equatorial Guinea), an audit of public institutions (Ghana), advice on administrative management (Gabon) and the digital economy.
Interview with Yolande Nyonda,
Secretary General of the Ministry for the budget, public accounts and the civil service responsible for state reform (Gabon)
22 March 2011, Paris
Also included are:
- the support, in Congo-Brazzaville for 3 years, in the governance of public finances (operations control and improvement of customs revenue, internal and external audit of public accounts, budgetary performance and account management),
- the support, in West Africa, of capacities to fight maritime trafficking, notably of drugs (the Seaport Cooperation Programme 1: information, maritime control, training).
The boards of the ministries of Economy and Budget show themselves as very active in a bilateral or international context.
The French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE (National Statistics and Economic Studies Institute (Ministry for the Economy and Finance)) ) brings expertise in the framework of Afristat, an organisation of twenty French-speaking countries, for example, to build a joint editorial platform in several countries. INSEE (National Statistics and Economic Studies Institute (Ministry for the Economy and Finance)) also intervenes in Central and West Africa in support of several projects: faster establishment of national accounts, economic situtation analysis, modeling (with the BCEAO, the Central Bank of West African States) quarterly GDP accounts. View the Statistics page 
The Directorate-General of Public Finances (DGFiP (General Directorate for Public Finance (Ministry for the Economy and Finance)) ) is developing a continuous action in the continent, particularly in formerly French administered countries. One of many examples is the provision of the Aster software for public accounting, and the accompanying training, helping to strengthen the administrations of Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Benin and Gabon. View the Public Financial Management activities - The ongoing contribution of the DGFiP (General Directorate for Public Finance (Ministry for the Economy and Finance)) also requires the posting, in ten or so countries and for a long period of time, of some of its officers from the ministries or directorates responsible for the budget, tax or public accounting. In addition, schools - of Tax, Land Registry, Treasury – welcome dozens of civil servants for training.
International fora and exchanges, which include several African countries, enable very fruitful and high level cooperation: The Centre for Meetings and Studies of Tax Authorities Managers (CREDAF (Conference and Study Center for Tax Administration Managers. The CREDAF gathers 30 French-speaking countries. It aims at promoting dialogue between Tax Administration ...) ) and the International Association of Treasury Services (AIST). See the DGFiP Taxation activities
French Customs also posts an expert to the counterpart administrations of eight African countries. This promotes cooperation programmes in areas such as the fight against fraud or counterfeiting, trade facilitation, surveillance (at sea or in airports). The DGDDI (General Directorate of Customs and Excise (Ministry for the Economy and Finance, and Ministry for Foreign Trade)) participates in the Sahel Plan, initiated in 2008, which involves Mali, Mauritania and Niger, and is directed particularly at drug trafficking and transnational crime. View the Customs activitiesThe regional, multi-country dimension of cooperation programmes is particularly important in Sub-Saharan Africa, which seeks to overcome its state diversity to base its development on wider economic areas. In this direction, efficiency and harmonisation of public tools, to which Adetef can contribute, are all essential keys.
Article written by Bertrand Périssé,
September 2010
