The Executive Director at the African Develop­ment Bank (AfDB) for The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan, Mr Rufus N. Darkotey, has underscored the importance of Ghana as a valuable partner of the bank. He expressed the gratitude of the Bank's President, Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina, to Ghana for the level of cooperation to ensure the holistic development of Africa, with focus on food sovereignty, food self-sufficiency, food security, gender and youth vulnerability issues. Mr Darkotey said this when he visited the Savannah Agriculture Value Chain Development Project (SADEP) in the north, last week, as part of his three-day consultation engagement in Ghana, during which he met with the Minister of Finance over the bank's portfolio in Ghana and future priority areas.