The event was attended by leaders of the community and civil society, including ambassadors accredited in Côte d’Ivoire, government representatives, senior representatives of AKDN’s development partners, regional directors of AKDN agencies, and members of the Jamat.

The event was hosted by the AKDN Diplomatic Representative in West Africa, Mr Ferid Nandjee. In his speech, Mr Nandjee highlighted the significant work done to improve the quality of life of millions of people worldwide during the past six decades, through development activities in the areas of health, education, cultural revitalization, and economic empowerment.

Imamat Institutions have been present in West Africa since 1965, at a time when Côte d’Ivoire’s first president was looking for effective ways to manage his country’s resources and Mawlana Hazar Imam was exploring innovative solutions to help African countries build their industrial capacity, as a pathway to development. Industrial Promotion Services (West Africa), an arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, was thus created and turned this shared aspiration into reality.

With their complementary aims and shared vision, economic development activities have expanded to four countries in West Africa (Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal) and, since 2004, have also grown to include social and cultural development activities, jointly implemented by the Aga Khan Foundation, the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance, and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

Senior leaders of AKDN agencies present for this commemorative event met the following morning, to discuss continued collaboration among the AKDN agencies and to broaden the ongoing support from the AKDN Representative Office.