Kuwait supports Palestinian reforms with grant contribution to the World Bank Administered Multi-Donor Trust Fund – World Bank press release

Kuwait Supports Palestinian Reforms with Additional US$50 million Grant Contribution to the World Bank Administered Multi-Donor Trust Fund

العربية

Washington, July 8, 2013 – Kuwait and the World Bank signed today a US$50 million grant agreement to support the ongoing Palestinian Reform and Development Program (PRDP). This amount is in addition to the $230 million that Kuwait has provided to the PRDP World Bank-administered multi-donor trust fund since 2008.

The agreement was signed by Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Ambassador of Kuwait in Washington, DC, and Inger Andersen, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa region. Merza Hasan, World Bank Executive Director and Dean of the Executive Board witnessed the signing.

“The State of Kuwait is committed to support the Palestinian Authority, as it has always done, and will remain engaged and committed to ensure the social and economic well-being of its citizens,” said Ambassador Al-Sabah.

The contribution will help support urgent budgetary needs that the Palestinian Authority (PA) is facing, providing inter alia support for education, health care and other vital social services for the Palestinian people and for the economic reforms currently underway. 

“The PRDP Trust Fund is central in supporting Palestinian reforms and development plans. We are proud of these joint donor efforts to ensure continuity of Palestinian institution building and better public service delivery,” said Andersen.

“This support from the State of Kuwait will help the Palestinian to bolster reforms to strengthen its fiscal positions and improve public financial management. These are critical building blocks for a future Palestinian state,” said Merza Hasan.   

The World Bank PRDP Trust Fund was established on April 10, 2008, when an agreement was signed between the World Bank and the Palestinian Authority. In addition to Kuwait, the governments of Australia, France, Norway, UK and Japan regularly contribute to this fund.  With the new contribution from Kuwait, the trust fund will have channeled closed to US$1.3 billion.

In addition, the World Bank has contributed $200 million of its own resources (through five Development Policy Grants) to support the budget of the Palestinian Authority.

Contacts: 
West Bank and Gaza: Mary Koussa, (972) 2-2366500, mkoussa@worldbank.org 
Washington: Lara Saade, (202) 473-9887, lsaade@worldbank.org

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