Rabat, May 12, 2010 – World Bank’s Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, Shamshad Akhtar has just completed a two day visit to Morocco as part of a Maghreb wide tour that will also take her to Tunisia, Algeria and Libya. She thanked Morocco for its support of the World Bank’s first general capital increase in 20 years, which saw substantial increase in the voting shares for developing and transition countries “I am pleased to reconfirm the strong partnership between the World Bank and the Government of Morocco. In particular, my visit allowed me to thank in person members of the Government for their support to the World Bank’s reform agenda that was the main item agreed during the recent Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF”, She said.
Akhtar’s visit also allowed her to discuss the status of the successful and expanding Bank’s program in Morocco adding, “We thank the Government for its excellent cooperation in the recent conclusion of the preparation of three investment projects in the water and sanitation sector, as well as support for the Public Administration Reform Program and the Second Rural Roads Project that were approved by our Board of Directors on April 29th. The World Bank’s program in Morocco achieved the record level of US$728 million, with a well-performing portfolio of 7 projects in various sector such as finance, agriculture and education and the next fiscal year is in similar prospect.”
Françoise Clottes, acting Country Director for Maghreb, who accompanied Akhtar during her visit added, “The WBG is committed to accompany the work of reforms implementation as outlined in the recent new Country Partnership Strategy for 2010-2013. This involves the doubling of financing volumes compared to previous trends”.
The World Bank’s Vice President also emphasized during her meetings the Bank’s commitment to strengthening regional integration across the Arab World. Morocco has consistently been supportive of the Bank’s Arab World Initiatives, which seeks to support greater integration in trade, investment and other economic activities across the Maghreb and MENA regions.
