First ALSF High-level Members Forum

The African Legal Support Facility (ALSF or Facility) will organize its first High-Level Members Forum, in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) on the following theme: “ALSF Ten years after: Facilitating investment and maximizing resources for national development”

Thirty-four (34) delegations from African States, one non-African State, 4 international organizations confirmed their participation. On the margins of the event, the “ALSF Academy” will be hosting training sessions for at least forty-five (45) confirmed African Law firms and or Legal Counsels.

This High-Level Members Forum will be an opportunity for the ALSF Members to formulate recommendations on the future of the Facility.  

The forty-five African bar lawyers will take part in the two-day ALSF Academy training workshop in connection with the intervention sectors of the Facility:

• The sovereign debt: bond issues and financing agreements.
• The oil and gas sector: production sharing agreements and social and environmental considerations.
• The settlement of disputes: the management of disputes and the tools necessary for their resolution.

Practical sessions of negotiations in the mining sector and Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) as well as role plays will also be organized during this workshop.

During the High-Level Members Forum, an ALSF manual on sovereign debt will be also officially launched.

On 26^th February, Mr. Godfred Penn, General Counsel and Director of Legal Services Department at the AfDB and Mr. Steve Karangizi, ALSF CEO and Director will deliver the welcome statements.

On February 27, the opening ceremony of the ALSF Academy training workshop will be pronounced by Mr. Charles Boamah, Senior Vice-President of the African Development Bank Group and Chairman of the ALSF Governing Council.