The FINANCIAL — The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission, France, Kuwait, Oman, as well as the Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center (METAC) beneficiary countries—Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen—pledged to contribute US$21.5 million to METAC during a pledging session held in Washington DC today.
The pledges received cover about two thirds of the center’s requirements for its third phase of operation, which runs from May 2010 to April 2015. Discussions are ongoing with a number of other donors who have also expressed interest in contributing to METAC.
The center, which is located in Beirut (Lebanon), provides technical assistance and training to Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Sudan, the West Bank and Gaza and Yemen, with a focus on banking supervision, public debt management, revenue administration, public financial management, and macroeconomic statistics.
After the conclusion of the pledging session, IMF Deputy Managing Director Murilo Portugal made the following statement:
“The IMF is pleased that our partners – both traditional donors and recipient countries alike have again pledged their support to METAC.
“METAC has been serving the region since 2004 and is a testament to our long-standing partnership in the delivery of technical assistance and training. The center embodies the spirit of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, serving as an important convening platform to reap substantial synergies among the various donors and development organizations in the region to benefit recipient countries.
“The strong interest of the recipient countries in METAC provides evidence of the value they attach to the center, reaffirming the very high degree of client satisfaction that the recent independent evaluations have emphasized.
“For METAC’s new funding cycle, we will endeavor to establish closer synergies with other Technical Assistance providing institutions to make METAC even stronger and more relevant to jointly improve capacity on the ground for our member countries. Another important aspect of METAC that we intend to strengthen is its networking function, through the promotion of regional information sharing and the exchange of knowledge, lessons learned, and emerging best practices, including with countries in the GCC.”
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