Saudi Arabia Is [A] Key World Bank Partner In Arab World

“Saudi Arabia is a key World Bank partner in the Arab World supporting further Arab integration in the global economy, according to Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank, who visited Saudi Arabia last week.…

Zoellick said that he had listened and learned from Saudi Arabia’s experience in meeting development challenges, in mobilizing South to South investments, and from its expertise in agricultural development. He commended the Kingdom for its economic reforms that have ranked the country as a top Doing Business Reformer in 2007. He said that Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab shareholder in the World Bank Group, and the visit was ‘an opportunity to continue the dialogue on how we can advance the Arab World initiative that we launched last year to address the regions social and economic priorities.’…” [MistNews (Egypt, 05/05)/Factiva]

Thai News notes that “…Zoellick met with Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency H.E. Sheikh Hamad Al-Sayari, Finance Minister Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, and the Managing Director of the Saudi Fund for Development H.E. Engineer Yousef Al-Bassam.

During his meetings Zoellick discussed the global food crisis and ideas about how the Arab world could accelerate reform efforts. He emphasized the role of Arab development funds as key players in advancing the integration of the Arab World in the global economy. …” [Thai News (05/05)/Factiva]

Indo-Asian News Service writes that “… ‘Our cooperation program in Saudi Arabia relies on the institution's capacity to leverage knowledge and best practice from different parts of the world,’ Zoellick said in a statement e-mailed to the Khaleej Times. …” [Indo-Asian News Service (05/04)/Factiva]

ADB To Get 11.3 Billion Dollars To Tackle Poverty, Food Crisis

“Donors have pledged $11.3 billion to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) by 2012 to help it tackle poverty and the food crisis.

ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda said ‘the generous contribution of donor nations’ would ‘bring better opportunities and a brighter future to people living in the region’s poorest nations’. …Roads, clean water and sanitation, electricity networks and other essential infrastructure aimed at improving the lives of the poor and boost growth as well as education projects would continue to be a focus of ADB's support. …” [Agence France Presse (05/03)/Factiva]

Reuters adds that “…The figure marks a 60 percent increase from the $7 billion donated to the ADB's Asian Development Fund in 2005-2008. The fund provides grants and low interest rate loans to the Asia Pacific region's poorest countries. …” [Reuters (05/02)/Factiva]

In a separate piece, Reuters notes that “The ADB called on Saturday for immediate action from global governments to combat soaring food prices and pledged fresh financial aid to help feed the Asia Pacific region's poorest nations. ‘The food crisis calls for immediate response of governments and the international community,’ the ADB concluded in a 15-page report detailing its planned response to soaring global food prices that have jumped 43 percent in the year through March.

‘The ADB's short term response will include targeted interventions to protect the food entitlements of the most vulnerable groups and income and livelihood programs for the poor to mitigate the immediate impacts of the crisis,’ the report said. …” [Reuters (05/03)/Factiva]

AP writes that ADB “…has announced emergency funding to help poor countries struggling with soaring food prices and warned these could keep rising and stifle economic growth in the region. …The new aid will come in the form of soft loans for the governments of countries hardest hit by the global food crisis, such as Bangladesh.

Kuroda declined to give an overall figure for this expenditure, saying it would depend on requests governments make. He said the amount would be ‘sizable, but not enormous.’ …Many countries in the region are grappling with the crisis by imposing price controls or bans on food exports, but the bank says this can backfire by discouraging farmers from planting, thus reducing supplies and raising prices. …” [The Associated Press (05/04)/Factiva]

Xinhua notes that “… ‘We believe targeted interventions to protect food entitlements of the most vulnerable and poor are more effective to mitigate the immediate impact of rising food prices,’ said Kuroda. Kuroda said the ADB would provide immediate budgetary support to hardest hit countries to alleviate their fiscal burdens and cushion the impact of rising food prices on the poor.

In the short run, the ADB would closely work with the affected governments in the region to strengthen safety net programs for food-stressed populations and emergency food security reserves systems. Kuroda said in the medium to long run, governments need to step up investment, boost rural infrastructures and strengthen institutions to sustain higher farm output. …” [Xinhua (05/03)/Factiva]

13 Asian Nations Agree To Set Up 80 Billion Dollar Crisis Fund

“Finance ministers of 13 Asian nations agreed in Madrid on Sunday to set up a foreign exchange pool of at least $80 billion to be used in the event of another regional financial crisis.

China, Japan and South Korea will provide 80 percent of the funds, with the rest coming from the 10 members of ASEAN, they said in a joint statement issued after talks on the sidelines of an Asian Development Bank meeting in Madrid. …” [Agence France Presse (05/04)/Factiva]

Jiji Press notes that “…The ASEAN Plus Three finance ministers agreed to upgrade the network of bilateral currency swap agreements under the so-called Chiang Mai Initiative of 2000, which was designed to prevent a repeat of the 1997 Asian currency crisis, and increase the amount of available emergency funds from $58 billion now. …

To further develop the Asian bond markets, the ministers endorsed a new roadmap of the Asian Bond Markets Initiative, a scheme aimed at promoting a shift from savings to medium- and long-term investments for regional economic growth. The roadmap focuses on promoting issuance of local currency-denominated bonds, facilitating the demand of local currency-denominated bonds, improving regulatory framework, and improving related infrastructure for the bond markets.” [Jiji Press (Japan, 05/05)/Factiva]

Kyodo News writes that “…To make the scheme work effectively and avoid the disbursement of easy money, the 13 nations said it is necessary to strengthen regional surveillance by increasing the frequency of economic reviews and policy talks from twice a year and developing a standardized format for the provision of information and data. …

Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, who co-chaired the meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart, Vu Van Ninh, told a press conference after the meeting that the Asian nations ‘succeeded in creating a springboard for the new development’ of the Chiang Mai Initiative. …” [Kyodo News (Japan, 05/05)/Factiva]

Reuters notes that “…The finance ministers said they were determined to work together to secure financial stability in Asia and would create a forum in which to discuss policies required to do so. Japan has been a leading advocate for the creation of a regional forum that would bring together policy makers, supervisors and central bankers to promote financial stability, similar to the Financial Stability Forum backed by the G7...” [Reuters and International Herald Tribune (05/04)/Factiva]

Afdb Adds $1 Billion In Loans For Africa Food Crisis

“The African Development Bank (AfDB),… will add $1 billion to its portfolio of agricultural loans to help address the food crisis in African countries, the bank said in a statement on Saturday.

Bank President Donald Kaberuka said it would also restructure some of its agriculture lending to provide a rapid disbursement facility to the tune of $250 million. The addition of the $1 billion in funding would raise the bank's portfolio of agricultural loans to $4.8 billion, the statement said. ...” [Reuters (05/03)/Factiva]

Xinhua adds that “…Speaking at a press conference following an AfDB meeting in Tunis, Kaberuka said that food shortage in Africa has amounted to 36 million tons. He said that up to 135 million people in 12 African countries, especially in Guinea, Gambia, Djibouti, Egypt, Sudan and Chad, are deeply affected by food shortage amid the rising prices.

He noted that the worst hit countries are those dependent on food imports while the most affected people are the poor, women, children and the elderly. …A 10 percent cut in production waste could save 5 million tons of food, he added.” [Xinhua (05/03)/Factiva]

Global Fund Considers Loans To Fight AIDS

“The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria may loan cash to developing countries when they grow too wealthy to qualify for grants, the fund's Director, Michel Kazatchkine, said on Sunday.

Including loans in its remit would allow The Global Fund … to extend help to governments and civic groups in heavily infected but increasingly wealthy countries. ‘To us it's important that when the world's money for aid is being distributed it not only takes into account economic factors but also, for example, burden of disease,’ Kazatchkine told Reuters in an interview at an HIV/AIDS conference in Moscow. …

The Global Fund has pledged nearly $1.2 billion to Eastern Europe and Central Asia through to 2010, about 55 percent into targeting HIV, and Kazatchkine said there has already been much progress - especially in developing civic groups. But as countries become richer and move away from grants, civil society groups worry without The Global Fund cash they will be marginalized by big government. …” [Reuters (05/04)/Factiva]

Meanwhile, AFP writes that “A real opportunity exists to curb the AIDS epidemic in Eastern Europe and central Asia provided current progress can be stepped up and kept up… said Peter Piot, Executive Director of the UN AIDS panel UNAIDS and UN assistant secretary general, speaking on the eve of an AIDS conference in Moscow. …

Some 1.6 million people in the region are HIV-positive, 150 percent more than in 2001, the official noted. However there had been a slowdown in some countries, with a rate of infection of 150,000 last year compared to 210,000 in 2001. …

Another new trend was the increase in women with HIV, representing 40 percent of new cases. In Moldova the figure was 62 percent, which Piot described as unprecedented outside Africa. Prevention programs had to be better targeted in future, said the official, noting that caused difficulties in some countries such as Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan where homosexuality was illegal. …” [Agence France Presse (05/02)/Factiva]

Also in this Edition; Briefly Noted…

A World Bank study underlines the necessary conditions for radio, television and online broadcasting to play a vital role in development by making governments accountable and giving voice to the worlds poor. The 400 page study, subtitled A Public Interest Approach to Policy, Law and Regulation was published to mark World Press Freedom Day. [Agence de Presse Sénégalaise (05/02)/Factiva]

More than 100 tones of rotting rice are being sold in Guinea-Bissau, Bambo Sanha, head of the Guinea-Bissau Association of Consumers of Goods and Services told AFP. [Agence France Presse (05/04)/Factiva]

Japanis set to propose a comprehensive action program to support Africa at a forthcoming international aid conference. The program will be comprised of measures Japan will implement for African nations in the next five years, informed sources said Saturday. [Jiji Press (Japan, 05/03)/Factiva]

UKPrime Minister Gordon Brown will on Tuesday launch a Business Call to Action in front of 70 of the world’s most powerful business leaders to accelerate progress in meeting the millennium development goals to reducing Africa’s poverty. [The Observer (UK, 05/04)/Factiva]

The Lao government is making progress on improving the business environment but keeping up momentum is crucial, said International Finance Cooperation Vice President and Chief Economist Michael Klein during his visit to Vientiane. He met with government officials to discuss the Bank's support for the development the country's natural resources, financial sector and potential privatization of state-owned enterprise. [Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (Malaysia, 05/05)/Factiva]

The World Bank will lend $2 billion for Indonesia's development programs this year, the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) announced Thursday. The government could receive even more loans than those previously promised, according to Bappenas Director for International Financing Dewo Broto Joko Putranto. [The Jakarta Post (05/03)/Factiva]

Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Saturday his government would delay non-essential projects and use funds to secure the country's food supply amid spiraling global food prices. The government announced on Friday that it would spend $778 million this year to boost food production as worldwide costs soar for staple items such as rice. [Agence France Presse (05/03)/Factiva]

Japanand China will cooperate in a $300 million project to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from a thermal power plant, Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday. Under the plan of the project, emitted carbon dioxide from a thermal power plant will be injected into a major Chinese oil field to extract more crude oil. [Reuters (05/03)/Factiva]

The World Bank will provide $206 million to the Bangladesh government in additional funds for rehabilitation projects in the cyclone-hit southwestern coastal areas of the country, a government official said. The World Bank last month completed negotiation for lending the fund to the government by June this year to reduce the pressures on fiscal management that has been badly affected by cyclone Sidr, The Financial Express reported Sunday. [Xinhua (05/04)/Factiva]

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura pledged his country's continued support for the postwar rebuilding of Afghanistan during his unannounced visit to Kabul on Sunday. Komura, who arrived in Kabul earlier in the day after ending his trip to Pakistan, made the pledge at meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Foreign Minister Dadfar Spanta. [Jiji Press (Japan, 05/04)/Factiva]

Some aid is beginning to reach victims of the cyclone that hit Burma on Saturday, killing hundreds of people and leaving tens of thousands homeless. Both Burmese officials and international agencies are working to assess the scale of the disaster, with five regions declared disaster zones. [BBC News (UK, 05/05)]

Representatives of the world's 370 million indigenous people called Friday for a say in decisions on how to combat global climate change, at the end of a two-week session focused on the environment. [Agence France Presse (05/02)/Factiva][where?]

Turkey’s government outlined a multi-billion dollar public spending program at the weekend, easing fiscal policy ahead of a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund. The Finance Ministry said it was revising some key budget targets between 2008 and 2012 to release about $13.4 billion for investment in infrastructure. [The Financial Times (UK, 05/05)]

The Palestinian Authority on Friday secured a breakthrough in its attempt to avoid a budgetary crisis this year after Kuwait made a firm commitment to begin paying millions of dollars in donations that it recently promised to the PA. [The Financial Times (UK, 05/03)]

The UN is set to halt delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip on Monday because its vehicles have run out of fuel, a UN official said. [Reuters (05/04)/Factiva]