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Add to Preferred SourcesThe European Commission and the World Bank Group have signed a Financial Framework Partnership Agreement, which guides the terms under which the Bank Group will use funding from the European Union to implement development projects across the world.
Building on the partners’ longstanding cooperation, the agreement will encourage economic growth and digital development, create jobs, reinforce skills, provide support to fragile and conflict-affected states, fight climate change, and address gender inequalities around the world. In addition, the agreement will help accelerate the partners’ joint response to COVID-19, including support to small and medium businesses in emerging economies.
“Over the years, the European Commission and the World Bank Group have together helped millions of people around the world live better lives. With today’s agreement, we are equipping ourselves with a more renewed toolbox to more effectively address today’s more numerous and more complex global challenges,” said Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for the Budget and Administration.
“COVID-19 has significantly increased the complexity of challenges faced by our client countries. Our partnership with the European Commission is now more important than ever as we work together to end extreme poverty, increase shared prosperity, and improve the lives of millions of people around the world,” said Axel van Trotsenburg, World Bank Managing Director for Operations.
For the period 2015–2019, the European Union contributed €2.07 billion (US$2.34 billion equivalent) to Bank Group trust funds–including the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)–to strengthen country outcomes around the world.
Examples include development projects in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Turkey, Somalia, and the Sahel, as well as support for global partnerships such as the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, which helps developing countries better understand and reduce their vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change.
The European Commission’s support has also helped MIGA extend its development impact to conflict-affected and fragile situations, and to projects in Africa, which benefitted from the agency’s environmental and social expertise.
Original source: World Bank
Published on 08 July 2020