A Marshall Islands government team, led by Finance Minister Brenson Wase and Minister in Assistance David Paul, attended the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group last month in Indonesia.
The delegation included Secretary of Finance Maybelline Bing, Assistant Secretary Ywao Elanzo, Acting Assistant Secretary for Division of International Development Assistance Malie Tarbwillin and former RMI Ambassador Charles Paul, who is an economic and financial advisor to Finance.
The annual meetings brought together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, civil society representatives, media and academics from around the world to discuss issues of global concern, including world economic outlook, global financial stability, poverty eradication, jobs and growth, economic development, aid effectiveness and climate change.
The meetings provided an opportunity for the RMI government to meet with officials from the IMF and World Bank, along with government representatives from other Small Island Developing States to address a range of issues including climate change adaptation, funding issues and the urgent need for streamlined and simplified funding pathways.
The meetings were an opportunity for RMI government to strengthen existing strong relationships with the IMF and World Bank.
In particular, RMI ministers met with Victoria Kwakwa, Vice President of the World Bank for East Asia and the Pacific. Kwakwa will be visiting RMI later this month to inspect progress on a range of World Bank-funded projects in RMI.
Read more about this in the November 9, 2018 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.