Saudi Gazette report

ALULA — Saudi Arabia’s Finance Ministry and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) co-hosted on Sunday a high-level roundtable on “Working together to support recovery in the Middle East’s conflict-affected economies”, with a focus on Syria. The roundtable meeting, held on the sidelines of the inaugural annual global AlUla Conference for Emerging Market Economies, brought together finance ministers of countries in the region, the minister of foreign affairs of Syria, the managing director of operations at the World Bank Group and heads of other International Financial Institutions and the Arab Coordination Group.

Following the meeting, Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva and Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan said in a statement that “this important meeting brought together representatives from the Middle East and key economic and development partners to discuss how we can work together to support recovery in the Middle East’s conflict-affected economies, with a focus on Syria. We thank all participants for realizing the urgency and importance of this task, as well as for their commitment to pool knowledge and work together to ensure that the conflict-affected countries can start addressing their humanitarian needs and begin a rebuilding era for their economies in an efficient, swift, and durable way for the benefit of their people,” the statement noted.

Participants welcomed the meeting as an opportunity to discuss recent developments and build a common understanding of the challenges facing conflict-affected countries. They emphasized the importance of strengthening coordination to support the recovery of these countries as the negative spillovers would impact all. Particular attention was paid to the situation in Syria.

The participants agreed on the following priorities to support conflict-affected countries:

1- A Continuous diagnostic of the challenges and economic and social context facing each conflict-affected country, including an assessment of humanitarian and reconstruction needs. Such a diagnostic should identify institution-building priorities, gaps in policies, and financing needs.

2- Enhanced Capacity Development (CD) aimed at rapidly scaling up IMF and World Bank CD initiatives to help strengthen and, as needed, build new institutions. Support would need to be tailored to strengthen essential functions of fiscal, monetary and banking institutions.

3- Mobilization of financial assistance from the international community. Financial support —coordinated with international and regional development partners —will be needed to fund comprehensive reform programs, including reconstruction and humanitarian aid.

The IMF, World Bank, the Arab Coordination Group, and countries of the region underscored their readiness to work together and complement each other’s efforts while focusing on their institutional mandates. They will continue to work closely and with other partners to further support the international response to the recovery of conflict-affected economies in the Middle East region.

They agreed to establish an informal coordination group to support those efforts, and agreed that discussions on those efforts will be continued at the upcoming IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings on April 25-27 in Washington D.C.

Participants at the meeting included the IMF, World Bank, countries in the region, members of the Arab Coordination Group, and high-level representatives of Syria.