Abu Dhabi - MENA Herald: HE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, will head the UAE delegation at the annual meeting of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC from 07-09 October 2016. HE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer will hold a series of bilateral meetings aimed at strengthening the UAE’s relations with IMF and WBG.
The UAE delegation participating in the annual meetings will include HE Mubarak Rashed Khamis Al Mansoori, UAE Central Bank Governor; HE Khalid Ali Al Bustani, Assistant Undersecretary of International Financial Relations at MoF; and a number of official from MoF and UAE Central Bank.
HE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer highlighted the importance of these meetings in establishing a platform for dialogue on global issues, and developing solutions to achieve sustainable economic and social development. HE Al Tayer said: “The global macroeconomic and financial stability is facing challenges, which calls for cooperation between different international entities and authorities to take the necessary measures to boost economic growth, activate framework for bilateral surveillance, provide financial support, and build capacity to promote global stability and in turn achieve sustainable growth.”
HE Al Tayer added: “UAE supports all efforts to support the global economic development and strengthen the global financial system. The country also supports the IMF and World Bank’s role in aiding member states.”
HE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer will host a number of meetings with a number of international officials, including Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund; Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group; Dr. Hazem El-Beblawi, Executive Director of the Arab Group at IMF,Dr. Mirza Hasan, Executive Director of the Arab Group at WBG, and Zeine Zeidane, Head of the IMF mission for Article IV discussion. The delegation will also participate in a series of seminars, sessions and closed meetings that aim to discuss topics relevant to international financial and monetary issues.
Alongside the annual meetings, the Ministry of Finance (MoF), in collaboration with the UAE Central Bank and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), will organise a reception for UAE banks including: National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD), Union National Bank (UNB), Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB), Al Hilal Bank and National Bank of Fujairah (NBF). These banks have played an active role in strengthening the UAE’s banking sector and these achievements will be highlighted during the annual meetings.
The annual meetings of the IMF and WBG will discuss a number of topics, including mechanisms on the global sustainable development agenda, adopted plans to eliminate poverty and achieve common prosperity, ways to improve infrastructure in developing countries, public finance policies, ways to manage debt in a volatile global economic environment, ways to stimulate private sector financing, variables affecting the global economic and political environment, and ways to face these challenges, as well as methods to prevent violent conflict.
These annual meetings also give great importance to enhancing youth participation in financing future development, investing in early childhood education to promote growth and productivity, offering jobs for the development and advancements of societies, in addition to discussing the role of technology and innovation in promoting inclusive growth, as well as the best approaches to take advantage of the digital solutions to ensure an enabling environment for digital development.