By: almotamar.net - Ms Daniela Gressani, the World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa Region is expected to visit Yemen during the period 3-5 November 2006. She will be accompanied by Emmanuel Mbi, Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti and a number of World Bank advisers. This will be Ms. Gressani first visit to the one of the region’s countries since she was appointed as Vice President in October 2006. She will meet with key government officials, donors, civil society and the private sector in preparation for the upcoming Consultative Group meeting to be held in London in November 15-16, 2006.
Emmanuel Mbi commented, “Ms. Gressani’s visit is another signal of the importance the World Bank attaches to supporting Yemen’s development efforts. The government of Yemen has been deploying significant efforts through implementation of the reform agenda”. Mustapha Rouis, Country Manger for Yemen added, “Yemen’s renewal and commitment to reforms will determine the size of donor to support future development priorities”.
The World Bank recently approved the new Country Assistance Strategy for Yemen, which projects about $400 million in IDA credits with 19 projects for the period 2006-2009. The CAS is in support of the Third Five Year Plan for Development and Poverty.
WB: $ 400 m for supporting 19 projects in Yemen
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Many journalists covered the funeral of the murdered Minister, Pierre Gemayel, the latest victim in a string of political assassinations in Lebanon.
Doctors use the word “crisis” to describe the point at which a patient either starts to recover or dies. President George W. Bush’s Iraqi patient now seems to have reached that point. Most commentators appear to think that Bush’s latest prescription – a surge of 20,000 additional troops to suppress the militias in Baghdad – will, at best, merely postpone the inevitable death of his dream of a democratic Iraq. Yet as “Battle of Baghdad” begins, factors beyond Bush’s control and not of his making (at least not intentionally) may just save Iraq from its doom.