Washington, 08 October 2016: The g7+ Ministers of Finance and Planning met the World Bank Group (WBG) senior Management team during the WB/IMF Annual Meeting in Washington DC.
The meeting was co-chaired by H.E. Momodu L. Kargbo, chair of g7+ and Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Sierra Leone and Mr. Hartwig Schafer, Vice-President of Operational Policy, and Country Services of the World Bank.
As part of the regular collaboration with the WBG on its engagement in g7+ member countries, the agenda of the discussion included IDA 18 package and its effective management in countries in fragile situation, Private sector development and facilitate peer learning.
The g7+ emphasized the importance of quick and flexible and effective support to countries fragile situation. Referring to the recent g7+ mission to Central African Republic (CAR), the g7+ highlighted how important and critical such support is to countries such as CAR.
Welcoming the potential increment of assistance through IDA 18 to conflict affected countries, both sides emphasized on its effective implementation through improving organizational capacity and targeting national priorities. The g7+ showed its concern over “fragmented understanding of narrative of Fragility” resulting from multiple assessments conducted by the donors. The Ministers, thus, stressed the importance of national ownership in identifying development challenges and addressing them.
The private sector development has always been on the agenda of discussion between the WB and g7+. The objective is to reach a consensus on how to enhance and scale up resources to support development of private sector and attract investment in fragile and conflict affected states. The g7+ Ministers emphasized that donors and the multilaterals should help their countries in creating markets for investment rather than waiting for ones to emerge. This can be done through proactively investing in basic infrastructure in the g7+ countries to attract investor and generate employment and growth. Thus, it is important that we set benchmarks for increasing such support for countries in fragile situation. Moreover, the Bank should act as convener for mobilizing and attracting investment in countries affected by conflict and fragility.
During the meeting the g7+ Secretariat representing the g7+ and the World Bank Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV), representing the World Bank Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU is intended to enhance cooperation and collaboration between both organizations in areas such as support the implementation and monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), support mobilizing effective development financial resources and supporting peer learning.
The meeting end with both sides agreed to work out some actionable steps including develop program to implement the Memorandum of Understanding. END.