KHARTOUM, March 18, 2017 — The World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan, Ms. Carolyn Turk, commenced today a three-day visit to Khartoum ahead of this year’s World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings to be held between April 21-23 in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Turk is scheduled to meet with a number of important partners, counterparts, and stakeholders during her short visit. Those include meetings with the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security, Sudan’s External Debt Committee, the IMF, the UK Department for International Development, and the UN.
Ms. Turk and Mr. Xavier Furtado, the World Bank Country Representative to Sudan met today with Sudan’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Badr Al-Din Mahmoud to discuss Sudan’s preparations for the Spring Meetings with a focus on how Sudan and the World Bank can deepen their collaboration to take full advantage of the easing of the U.S. sanctions.
“This is a critical moment for Sudan’s development efforts,” said Carolyn Turk, the World Bank Country Director for Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan. “We at the World Bank look forward to supporting Sudan in seizing the opportunities that are now on the horizon,” she added. “We appreciate the openness of Sudan’s authorities to our technical assistance and policy advice and look forward to continuing our dialogue in Washington at the Spring Meetings,” she concluded.
On January 13, 2017, an Executive Order by the Obama Administration provisionally lifted major elements of the comprehensive U.S. economic embargo on Sudan—in place since 1997—in a step which could prove significant for the country’s struggling economy.
Meetings between World Bank and Sudanese officials will thus address possible improvements to the enabling environment for private sector development, job creation, and continued efforts towards a national poverty reduction strategy.
