October 15th, 2023, Marrakech – The g7+ (The Group of Seven Plus) and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) held a closed-door Ministerial Conference during the World Bank and IMF Annual Meetings. Joined by Ministers from the g7+ and other countries with similar circumstances, the IMF Managing Director and senior leadership, the World Bank Managing Director for Operations and senior leadership, the United Nations World Food Program Executive Director, and UNHCR Assistant Secretary General and other partners, the conference focused on how to improve cooperation, financing and resilience in countries affected by conflict and fragility and contribute to global public goods.
The IMF Managing Director, Ms. Kristalina Georgieva highlighted the importance of supporting countries to move from fragility to resilience and tackle high levels of extreme poverty, repeated disasters, and negative spillover effects from conflict, epidemics, forced displacement, and economic instability, thereby contributing to global public goods of peace, global health, and economic stability. The Managing Director expressed her full support to countries dealing with fragility, citing the IMF’s recent fragility and conflict-affected states strategy and current efforts to expand the Fund’s footprint in these settings and provide longer-term support, including through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust and resilience and Sustainability Trust Fund.
The World Bank Managing Director of Operations, Ms. Anna Bjerde affirmed the World Bank’s ongoing support to countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV), recognizing the imperative to tackle fragility through the Bank’s FCV strategy, risk and resilience assessment, evolution roadmap and IDA 21 replenishment, as well as its new playbook focused on prevention, resilience and staying engaged.
The Minister of Finance of Sierra Leone and the chairing country of the g7+, Mr. Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura expressed his appreciation to the IMF, World Bank, United Nations, and other partners for their support to the g7+’s 20 member countries. He conveyed solidarity with Morocco, Nepal, and Afghanistan in the aftermath of recent devastating earthquakes. He also noted how the pandemic, war in Ukraine, and worsening climate change had eroded global public goods and impacted fragility-affected countries the most, despite them having the least responsibility for these crises.
Minister Bangura called for three major shifts to address conflict and fragility to support global public goods: agreeing on a resilience framework to guide cooperation between g7+ countries, international finance institutions and other partners, which does not currently exist despite increasing global and national risks and crises; finding more innovative solutions to the ongoing debt crises in fragility-affected countries to allow them to invest in stability and productivity, including through relief, forgiveness and a possible debt for resilience swap; and deepened commitments to the principle of country ownership by partners and renewed engagement through government-led country platforms to overcome the often projectized and misaligned and unharmonized aid efforts in g7+ countries, and to promote dialogue, mutual accountability and collective action.
Somalia, Burundi, Yemen, Haiti and DRC from the g7+ group were among the speakers at the conference and expressed their thanks and support to the IMF, World Bank and other partners for their strides to better understand fragility, expand their presence and staying power during crises, and tailor funds, strategies, and interventions to specific contexts. This includes through the IFIs’ respective fragility strategies, the World Bank’s IDA fund, and IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust Fund and Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility.
The Minister of Finance of Somalia, Mr. Bihi Iman Egeh informed that the government will be reaching the completion point of HIPIC by the end of this year and considered this as an important benchmark in Somalia’s transition. The Minister emphasized the spillover effects of fragility globally and regionally and stressed the importance of country ownership in aid assistance.
The Minister of Finance of Burundi, Mr. Audace Niyonzima reiterated the need for more capacity development and long-term assistance that can pursue resilience and stability.
The Minister of Finance of Yemen, Mr. Salim Bin Buriek called for more flexible and unconditional assistance and partnership founded on a common vision for stability and resilience.
Recognizing the imminent deployment of multi-national forces in Haiti, the country’s Minister of Finance, Mr. Michel Patrick Boisvert affirmed the need for assistance to the state for maintaining service delivery to the people of Haiti. He also noted key progress made by the government on macroeconomic stabilization, institutional reforms, and fiscal gains in close partnership with the IMF and World Bank.
The Minister of Finance of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mr. Nicolas Kazadi Kadima-Nzuji recognized that geoeconomics fragmentation has aggravated fragility and that addressing this trend was a global public good for the country.
The World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director, Ms. Cindy McCain highlighted the unparallel global food crisis, the need for greater humanitarian funds to meet the challenge, and WFPs work with IFIs to not only provide emergency relief but to strengthen food systems.
The UNHCR Assistant High commissioner for operation, Mr. Raouf Mazou highlighted the significant issue forced displaced within and beyond borders and how most displaced populations move from one fragile context to another, creating new pressures and fragilities that require greater cooperation between authorities, multilateral institutions, affected populations and other partners.
Going forward, the g7+, World Bank and IMF agreed to continue dialogue and cooperation to better understand the drivers of fragility and strengthen resources for resilience. The IMF and g7+ will explore the possibility of carrying out joint missions to g7+ countries.
Contact:
Helche Silvester
Media and Communication Officer, The g7+ Secretariat, Dili, Timor-Leste
Helche.silvester@g7plus.org