WB's South Asia management team arrives in Kathmandu

Over 65 senior managers and staff from the World Bank (WB) are in Kathmandu to participate in a series of meetings, starting Tuesday, around new and emerging issues in Nepal and South Asia, a press release issued by the WB said.

World Bank's Country Director for Nepal, Susan Goldmark, said Nepal has been selected for this year's meetings of the South Asia regional management team.

“Nepal was chosen for this year’s meetings to signal the Bank’s strong commitment to continue working with Nepal and to maintain a focus on development even during these politically challenging times,” Goldmark said in the release, adding, “It is a demonstration of our solidarity with the Nepali people and our way of saying that we stand with Nepal as it embarks on an ambitious agenda of nation-building.”

The theme of the meeting this year is “Beyond the Nation State” and, on the first two days, will involve discussions on regional cooperation in the areas of water, trade and investment, transport, climate change, and institutions of regional collaboration. Another set of discussions will be around the theme of opportunities and constraints for sub-national governments across South Asia.

A number of prominent external speakers are expected to contribute to the richness of these discussions.

The Bank’s regional management team meetings in South Asia are usually held over two days. But a third day has been added this time for discussions exclusively focused on Nepal. Representatives of the political parties, senior government officials and Kathmandu based representatives of the international development community will join these discussions.

The World Bank has designated December 6, 2007 as “Nepal Day” at its Board of Executive Directors in Washington D.C., to discuss the country situation as well as a proposed package of new grant investments. nepalnews.com ag Nov 05 07