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LA SV President's Palace
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SV Newson out of car and into building
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MS Newson welcomed by President
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Newson and Press chatting (2 shots)
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Initials JKP:1403 JKP:1411



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Financing arrangements for the proposed two hundred and fifty million dollar Trans Gabon Railway have entered a new phase with a letter from the American Government, delivered on Thursday of last week (13 May) to Gabonese President Albert-Bernard Bongo by United States Under Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr David Newson.

Earlier this year, the World Bank, which at one time had offered a contribution of about twelve million dollars, refused to confirm the offer until agreement was reached on their demand that stricter controls be imposed on French logging companies working in the country's rich timber fields. Mr Robert McNamara, head of the World Bank, felt that these companies would initially profit the most from the railway, and wanted the Gabonese Government to extract higher royalties from the French concerns.

This is a difficult problem for the Gabonese administration, for this former French colony, immensely rich in natural resources but desperately poor in manpower, is heavily dependent upon the existing strength of the French presence in fields of development. Until the question is settled, it is unlikely that other backers for the railway - West Germany, France itself and the European Development Fund - will put their own money in.

The letter delivered by Mr Newson, however, may well indicate that progress is being made. No figures have been reported, but funds are being made available by a United States agency for industrial development and the US Import-Export Bank.

At the same time, America has undertaken to finance the equipping of a language laboratory in Libreville's National University.