October 16, 2003	Thursday	Sha'aban 19, 1424

TIMBUKTU (Mali), Oct 15: The Aga Khan in Mali on an official visit, has underlined the need for cultural revitalization to be linked to focused investment in the social sector, and carefully planned economic development.

The Aga Khan has held extensive discussions with President Amadou Toumani Toure and members of his government in Bamako on the scope for expanding the Aga Khan Development Network’s presence in the country. During his visit, the Aga Khan is also expected to visit the fabled city of Djenne, a Unesco-designated World Heritage Site, as well as Mopti, a trading and administrative centre on the banks of the Niger in a region where more than three-quarters of the population lives below the poverty line and literacy and healthcare indices are amongst the worst in the world.

“The ingenuity and imagination of peoples of the developing world continue, unfortunately, to remain untapped resources,” said the Aga Khan, and added that there was an urgent need for the world to acknowledge and “rediscover” these resources.