Finance Minister Pun, WB’s Vice President Rager hold meeting

KATHMANDU, APRIL 30: Finance Minister Barshaman Pun and Vice President of the World Bank for South Asia, Martin Rager, held a meeting today. Rager is currently in Nepal for leading the World Bank Group in the recently concluded Third International Investment Summit.

On the occasion, they discussed the 21st meeting of WB’s International Development Association (ID) which is scheduled in Kathmandu from June 18-21. Rager informed that the President of the WB Group, Ajay Banga, would participate in the meeting and that high-ranking officials of the World Bank would carry out onsite visits to different under-construction projects with WB’s investment after the 21st meeting of IDA.

Similarly, Finance Minister Pun shared that  Nepal is making preparations for the IDA meeting and will facilitate the proposed onsite visits to such projects.

An organising committee is formed under the leadership of Finance Secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and a Management and Coordination Committee under the coordination of the Head of International Economic Cooperation and Coordination Division of the Finance Ministry, Srikrishna Nepal, for the preparation of the meeting and both committees have forwarded activities for the same, according to Minister Pun.

Representatives of 92 countries including the WB’s Ajay Banga would participate in the IDA meeting. IDA is the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries by providing zero-low-interest loans and grants for programmes that boost economic growth and improve people’s living conditions.

The WB Group chose Nepal to organise the IDA meeting from various countries. A meeting of this level of the World Bank Group has not been held in the country before. The IDA meeting is held every three years. The 20th IDA meeting was organised in Japan from December 14-15, 2021.