Jordan Times
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Minister Al-Ali Conducts Meetings with Several Senior Officials at the World Bank and the US Administration
Amman, Oct. 23 (Petra)--During a working visit to
the United States, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair
Al-Ali, head of the Jordanian delegation to the World Bank and International
Monitory Fund's annual meetings in Washington D.C., conducted numerous meetings
with senior officials at the World Bank, US State Department and US Treasury
Throughout her meetings Minister Al-Ali underlined the economic, social and
political reforms that have recently been undertaken in addition to the recent
adoption of several new laws by the government and the parliament which have
institutionalized these reforms. The Minister also highlighted the achievements
that have been made despite the significant fiscal, political and social
challenges that Jordan continues to face.
Central to Al-Ali's meetings with the President of the World Bank Group Mr.
Robert Zoellick and other senior World Bank officials, was Jordan's request to
increase the amount of technical assistance given to Jordan in particular
providing value added services such as risk management and sectoral reviews.
This request was in line with the Minister's Middle Income Country keynote
presentation that was made to the Independent Evaluation Group at the annual
World Bank meetings. During the presentation the Minister presented Jordan's
case as a Middle Income Country that requires targeted and results-oriented
assistance to accelerate growth, alleviate poverty, and hasten the delivery of
the fruits of reform to larger segments of the population. The minister also
referred to the G11 initiative as an example of cooperation among lower middle
income countries to achieve prosperity for its people.
During her meetings with key US officials at the US State Department and US
Treasury Minister Al-Ali discussed the various forms of cooperation between the
Government of Jordan and the U.S Government, reiterating Jordan's commitment to
reforms and achieving sustainable growth. The Minister also discussed Jordan's
request to increase US assistance to Jordan in order to make available more
financial resources to execute priority projects and address the critical
challenges Jordan is facing.
Al-Ali also met with the Directors of the Arab Development Fund, the Islamic
Development Bank, the Kuwaiti Development Fund, the Saudi Development Funds, and
Abu Dhabi Fund. During these meetings the Minister discussed existing and future
forms of cooperation between Jordan and these institutions. The Directors in
turn, informed the Minister of their continued support and cooperation.