Al-Ahram Weekly 14 - 20 September 2000 Issue No. 499
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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World Bank vice-president to visit Egypt

By Thomas Gorguissian

Ahead of his visit to Cairo scheduled for 16-19 September, World Bank Vice-President for the Middle East and North Africa Jean-Louis Sarbib spoke about the organisation's approach to its relations with Egypt. Sarbib said the World Bank (WB) is "trying very much to structure [its] relationship with Egypt around [providing] financial capital as well as... knowledge, with the concurrence and consensus of the Egyptian government.

During the visit, Sarbib will discuss with Egyptian officials 'The Country Assistance Strategy.' The WB official described this document as "an agreement about what the bank and Egypt are going to be doing together for the next three years. Our current plan is to present it to our board of directors towards the middle of next calendar year," he told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Considerable preparations are being undertaken for the coming phase of cooperation between the bank and the Egyptian government. "We are now working with the Egyptian government on five studies... These studies are on export promotion, the business environment, the social safety-net and on jobs and training. [There is also a study on] participation of the private sector in the provision of infrastructure."

While in Egypt, Sarbib is scheduled to visit some of the WB's 18 projects in this country. The last of these was approved only two months ago, said Mahmoud Ayoub, the organisation's newly-appointed representative to Cairo. Concerning delays in the implementation of some projects, Sarbib put these down to "procedural issues" which he intends to look into during his visit to Egypt. Noting other WB concerns regarding Egypt, Sarbib said, "We would like to have a better understanding of what's happening in the financial sector," adding his view that certain economic reforms need to be made faster.

Sarbib is a French national who was born and raised in Algeria. He has worked for the WB for 20 years, assuming the position of vice-president MENA last May.

In 1999 Egypt received US$50 million in loans from the WB. Over the past five years World Bank loans to Egypt have amounted to approximately US$1 billion.

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