Tehe conference was jointly organized by the Benin Ministry of Environment, Habitat and Urbanism and the World Bank. Besides important delegations from these four countries, Senegal and the Ivory Coast were also represented. All participants deemed the seminar a true success.

• The main conclusion is the adoption of the first sub-regional Action Plan to eliminate lead in gasoline in Sub-Saharan Africa;
• This sub-regional Action Plan is itself built around two national Action Plans, from Nigeria (adopted in November 2001) and from Benin (adopted in March 2002);
• It defines several types of actions to reach that target date concerning regulations, techniques,awareness and communications;
• It recommends the adoption of a standard octane level, that is 93 RON;
• It integrates the main points from the Action Plan of Benin and the one from Nigeria which occupies a preponderant role in the African oil industry.

• As a reminder, the principle of sub-regional Action Plans was decided during the regional conference of Dakar in June 2001. The elimination of lead in gasoline in Sub-Saharan Africa has become a key activity of the Clean Air Initiative in Sub-Saharan African Cities. By the same token, the success of the Cotonou seminar is a significant contribution towards reaching the objectives of this program: make African cities less polluted, improve the quality of life of the urban populations. It integrates the main points from the Action Plan of Benin and the one from Nigeria which

  Luc-Marie Constant GNACADJA
  Benin Minister of the Environment,
  Habitat and Urbanism

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  Letitia A. OBENG
  Sector Manager
  Water and Urban Development Sector
  World Bank Africa Region