DJIBOUTI, 13 January 2019 – After the launching of the targeted review by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, focal point and spokesperson of the government, the APRM delegation led by the lead panelist for Djibouti, Mrs. KARADJA was received in audience by His Excellency Mr. Abdoulkader KAMIL, Prime Minister of the Republic of Djibouti.

The Prime Minister expressed the willingness, at the highest level of the State, to follow through with the decentralization process bearing in mind that decentralization will be aligned with the deconcentration of services which is already well underway.

After having expressed gratitude to the Republic of Djibouti for its commitment in setting the trend in the targeted review process, Mrs. Karadja took time to explain the meaning of targeted review and ways in which it will be implemented and what exactly is expected from the various players in the process.

After this audience, the delegation held a series of discussions with the Ministers of the key ministries of decentralization, namely: the Ministries of the Interior, Finance, Budget, Justice and Ministry Delegate in charge of Decentralization in order to get their visions and levels of commitments in the decentralization process.

In the Ministry of the Interior, the delegation met with the Secretary General who answered all the questions put to him by APRM experts while underscoring the fact that decentralization was adopted during the 2006 municipal elections.

After developing an ambitious and determined vision with the aim of setting up hubs of economic development of regions according to the comparative advantages of each, the Minister of Finance pointed out local budgeting challenges including the lack of capacity and resources.

He was echoed by the Minister of budget who noted the daunting challenge of finding tax exemptions which will help to speed up the process.

The Minister of Justice said, for his part, that decentralization had not yet taken shape due to lack of resources and courts in the decentralized entities, while pointing out that mobile brigades had been set up to make justice accessible to citizens in the regions.

The meeting with the Secretary General of the Ministry Delegate in charge of Decentralization brought to the fore that though triggered by the 2017 Finance Bill, decentralization was still at its infancy.