PM Gakharia meets World Bank Regional Director

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Wednesday, January 20

Molineus said that WB would like to support the process of vaccination directly, after the readiness of the system is assessed.

“We greatly appreciate the World Bank's assistance throughout the pandemic. WB is one of our key partners in building a sustainable, inclusive & resilient economy,” the PM tweeted.

“It was a wonderful meeting, our views are in line with the successful cooperation between the Georgian government and the World Bank in recent years,” Sebastian Molineus, World Bank (WB) Regional Director for the South Caucasus, said after a meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia.

According to the press service of the government administration, the main issues discussed at the meeting were effective and successful cooperation between Georgia and the WB, the vaccination action plan, the country's European integration and the structural reform agenda.

Molineus reaffirmed the World Bank's readiness to support the Georgian government's main plan for EU integration - to prepare a formal application for membership by 2024.

The WB stands ready to continue to support the development of infrastructure connecting Georgia and the EU, including through the implementation of strategic projects of regional importance. In addition, the WBis currently seeking to support the Georgian government's efforts to vaccinate.

“We are working very closely with the United Nations and other international financial institutions to assess the readiness of the system before the vaccination process, and then we want to support the vaccination process directly,” Molineus said.

PM Gakharia underlined the fact that the support of the WB in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic has the greatest positive impact on the country's economy and social background. The conversation focused on the next phase of targeted support for citizens and businesses, related to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the meeting, the parties also focused on large-scale regional projects.

It was noted that the latest programs of the World Bank have contributed to important reforms such as pension reform, deposit insurance system reform, capital market development reform, development of public-private partnership systems, etc. The sides expressed readiness to deepen cooperation within the framework of the 2019-2022 Partnership.

According to the press service of the government’s administration, at the meeting, the partnership within the framework of Development Policy Operations (DPO) was positively assessed, which contributes to the promotion of inclusive growth and increases the competitiveness of the private sector.