MENA Transition Fund Seventh Steering Committee Meeting May 18‐19, 2015 (Berlin, Germany) Meeting Minutes Key Decisions 1) Cash available on May 18, 2015 was $20 million, including funds from Denmark, Germany, Russia, and investment income. The following projects were approved for a total of about $13.9 million: Enhancing the Investment Climate in Egypt through Equal Access and Simplified Environment for Investment and Fostered Investment Policy, Legal and Institutional Framework for $7.04 million with the WB and OECD; Morocco Improving Connectivity in the Maghreb for $3.3 million with the WB and OECD; Regional: Leveraging Regulatory Reform to Advance Financial Inclusion (Egypt and Jordan) for a total of $1.7 million with IFC; Regional: Towards Inclusive and Open Governments: Promoting Women’s Participation in Parliaments and Policy‐making (Egypt, Jordan and Morocco) for a total of $1.9 million with OECD 2) The following projects were also approved, with some caveats (also accepted by the relevant ISAs), for a total of about $5.1 million: Jordan National Center for Innovation, Higher Council for Science and Technology for $2.6 million with EBRD. The first tranche (comprising direct and indirect costs) as determined by EBRD to cover the cost of the mapping exercise may be requested by EBRD. Jordan and EBRD agreed to submit to the SC the mapping exercise once completed. SC members will have 10 business days to review and send comments if any. EBRD will then be in a position to request the second tranche for the remainder of the activities. Tunisia Enhancing Governance and Economic Growth: Promoting Transparency and Integrity in Public Procurement was approved for $2.5 million with AfDB contingent upon the following comments being taken into account: o The results should take into account, over time, indicators related to transparency and corruption, in addition to the decrease in the number of days for procurement processing o Unification of procurement systems should be a long‐term goal of the project once the appropriate systems are established and in place o Ensure country institution take control of training aspects to ensure sustainability 3) To facilitate reallocation options for TCs, the SC agreed to revise the June 2014 decision taken on how cancelled funding can be reallocated to also include the possibility of reallocating cancelled funds for additional financing requests to existing projects.
Transcript
MENA Transition Fund Seventh Steering Committee Meeting
May 18‐19, 2015 (Berlin, Germany)
Meeting Minutes Key Decisions 1) Cash available on May 18, 2015 was $20 million, including funds from Denmark, Germany, Russia, and investment income. The following projects were approved for a total of about $13.9 million:
Enhancing the Investment Climate in Egypt through Equal Access and Simplified Environment for Investment and Fostered Investment Policy, Legal and Institutional Framework for $7.04 million with the WB and OECD;
Morocco Improving Connectivity in the Maghreb for $3.3 million with the WB and OECD;
Regional: Leveraging Regulatory Reform to Advance Financial Inclusion (Egypt and Jordan) for a total of $1.7 million with IFC;
Regional: Towards Inclusive and Open Governments: Promoting Women’s Participation in Parliaments and Policy‐making (Egypt, Jordan and Morocco) for a total of $1.9 million with OECD
2) The following projects were also approved, with some caveats (also accepted by the relevant ISAs), for a total of about $5.1 million:
Jordan National Center for Innovation, Higher Council for Science and Technology for $2.6 million with EBRD. The first tranche (comprising direct and indirect costs) as determined by EBRD to cover the cost of the mapping exercise may be requested by EBRD. Jordan and EBRD agreed to submit to the SC the mapping exercise once completed. SC members will have 10 business days to review and send comments if any. EBRD will then be in a position to request the second tranche for the remainder of the activities.
Tunisia Enhancing Governance and Economic Growth: Promoting Transparency and Integrity in Public Procurement was approved for $2.5 million with AfDB contingent upon the following comments being taken into account: o The results should take into account, over time, indicators related to transparency and
corruption, in addition to the decrease in the number of days for procurement processing
o Unification of procurement systems should be a long‐term goal of the project once the
appropriate systems are established and in place
o Ensure country institution take control of training aspects to ensure sustainability
3) To facilitate reallocation options for TCs, the SC agreed to revise the June 2014 decision taken on how cancelled funding can be reallocated to also include the possibility of reallocating cancelled funds for additional financing requests to existing projects.
4) The SC approved the restructuring of the Jordan and Morocco Promoting Financial Inclusion via Mobile Financial Services in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean. Cancelled funds from each restructuring will be applied as follows:
$465,000 will be reallocated from the Jordan EIB Promoting Financial Inclusion project to an existing project as additional financing yet to be determined by Jordan. The additional financing request has to be submitted for virtual SC approval before August 20, 2015. The reallocation of cancelled funds to a new project submission is not possible in this case given the next round of new projects approvals is scheduled for December 2015; and
$285,000 will be reallocated from the Morocco EIB Promoting Financial Inclusion project to another new or existing project as additional financing yet to be determined by Morocco. A new project submission has to be submitted prior to the November 4, 2015 call for proposals deadline, whereas an additional financing request has to be submitted for virtual SC approval before November 18, 2015.
If the cancelled funds are not allocated within the timeframe indicated above by each country, or if such timely submissions or requests are not approved by the SC, the funds can be allocated to projects from other TCs in the next round of project approvals. 5) The SC approved the extension of closing dates for the following projects:
Jordan EIB SME Growth Program to April 20, 2018
Jordan WB Active Labor Management Program to June 30, 2017
Libya AfDB Leading the Way to December 31, 2016
Tunisia AfDB Leading the Way to June 30, 2017
Tunisia OFID Energy Reform Plan to December 31, 2016
Yemen WB Enterprise Revitalization and Employment Pilot to December 31, 2016 6) $533,000 was approved to cover the Trustee and CU budgets from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. 7) The SC agreed, with the consent of the Trustee and Coordination Unit, to extend the timeframe of the Transition Fund by two years. The Operations Manual has therefore been amended accordingly. 8) Transition Countries agreed that Egypt will continue as co‐Chair of the Transition Fund for the rest of the 2015 calendar year. 9) The next SC meeting will take place in Cairo on December 7, 2015.
10) The SC agreed that a video demonstrating the results of Transition Fund interventions should be developed by the Coordination Unit for the next SC meeting. Summary of Meeting 1) Welcome and Opening Remarks by Co‐Chairs The seventh meeting of the Transition Fund Steering Committee (SC) took place in Berlin, Germany on May 18 and 19, 2015. A list of meeting participants is presented in Annex 1.
The meeting commenced with welcome remarks from the Egyptian co‐Chair, Eng. Mohamed Hammam, Assistant to the Minister in Charge of International, Regional and Arab Financing Institutions, Ministry of International Cooperation (see Annex 2). Dr. Christiane Bögemann‐Hagedorn, Deputy Director General for North Africa, Middle East, South‐Eastern and Eastern Europe and Latin America, and Director for Latin America (BMZ), followed with opening remarks outlining that now is not the time to experience fatigue over the developments in transition countries. Rather, this is a time for the international community to demonstrate commitment to the region – and the Transition Fund is symbolic of that commitment to the people of transition countries. The German co‐Chair further added that the Transition Fund has grounded the Deauville Partnership more concretely and visibly, adding that the diversity of representation in the Fund is something to be appreciated. The German co‐Chair also strongly encouraged donors (both new and existing) to contribute funds (see Annex 3). At the conclusion of these remarks, an introduction of the agenda followed (see Annex 4). 2) Trustee Presentation The Trustee presented the Transition Fund’s current funding status and outlook. The presentation is provided in Annex 5.
Total pledges received at the time of the SC meeting amounted to $212.9 million. No new pledges have been received since the December 2014 meeting.
Total cash contributions received to date amount to $191.9 million, including the contributions received from Germany ($10.6 million); Denmark ($4.5million); Russia ($3 million) and the UAE ($1 million; arrived on May 19). Japan indicated its final contribution should be expected at the end of May 2015. Nine countries have contributed the full amount of their pledges: Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Kuwait, Qatar, Russia, Turkey and the UK. Investment income earned to date amounts to $0.8 million, bringing the total funding to $ 192.7 million.
Funding decisions totaling $190.5 million have been taken as of May 18, 2015, including for both projects and Trustee and Coordination Unit budgets.
Current cash available, net of funding decisions, is $2.2 million.
The next cash payments of $4 million, $5 million and $10 million are expected from Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United States respectively, according to currently scheduled contributions.
The Trustee indicated to ISAs that the investment income earned from the funds transferred to ISAs (excluding Indirect Costs) should be returned to the Trustee in accordance with the Financial Procedures Agreement. The Trustee will follow up with individual ISAs on this issue.
Estimated administrative costs for the Trustee and the Coordination Unit in FY15 (July 1, 2014‐June 30, 2015) are projected at $644,200, which is $48,300 below the approved budget. The proposed FY16 budget for the Trustee and Coordination Unit is $533,000. The SC approved a transfer of the full FY16 budget of $533,000 (see table below).
Total Budget Approved FY15
Total Estimated Expenditures* FY15
Estimated Underspent FY15
Proposed Budget for FY16
Trustee 266,000 266,000 0 253,000
Coordination Unit 426,500 378,200 48,300 280,000
Total Budget 692,500 644,200 48,300 533,000
*Actual expenditures through April 2015 and estimated expenditures for May and June 2015
3) CU Presentation and IFI Coordination Platform Comments The Executive Secretary gave a brief presentation outlining the nine (or six if considered as regional) projects that were submitted totaling $19.1 million and highlighting the importance of focusing on the quality of proposals submitted. The presentation is provided in Annex 6. The presentation outlined key highlights on the status of the Fund and portfolio‐related progress issues mainly:
Overall disbursement status as of December 31, 2014 increased to 9% from 6% in June 2014;
Additional funds leveraged to co‐finance Transition Fund projects amounted to about $20 million;
On average, as of December 2014, 75 percent of the portfolio was rated satisfactory; 15 percent unsatisfactory; and 10 percent of the projects were not yet effective.
The Executive Secretary also indicated that the performance of the portfolio of the Transition Fund will be re‐assessed very soon during the next progress update due in July 2015. In addition, the IFI Coordination Platform remarked that there is strong consensus around the fact that the Transition Fund fills critical gaps despite the availability of other grant resources or concessional financing. More importantly, the interaction between donors, transition countries and ISAs through the Fund is invaluable. The leverage that the Fund presents is not only financial, but its leverage also lies in the coordination it has fostered among ISAs. The IFI CP also requested the SC to keep in mind the fluid and evolving political landscape in transition countries – which can create implementation bottlenecks, but also gave reassurances that current disbursements are higher than what was reported 6 months ago. In conclusion, the IFI CP reaffirmed the importance of new funding to keep the Fund alive, indicating it would like to see a new impetus from donors for additional contributions. 4) Presentation of the Main Results of the DP Governance and Finance Tracks Given that the Transition Fund is part of the overall Deauville Partnership (DP) process, Germany as DP Chair has indicated that the reforms supported by the Transition Fund are dependent on political consensus and processes. Hence the need to strengthen the collaboration between the Fund, and the dialogue/activities supported by the governance and finance tracks is key to ensuring sustainable progress. In this regard, a brief overview of where both track stand was given during the SC meeting:
Governance Track Debrief: Germany held a governance meeting in Paris in coordination with OECD. The outcome of the meeting reinforced the importance of economic governance as a fundamental part of economic stabilization and progress, investment flows, etc. None of these aspects can be achieved unless political governance issues are properly addressed. Four years after the Arab Spring, deeper and more ambitious progress on economic governance aspects are still lacking. The meeting produced an ‘economic governance compact’ which was adopted by consensus of all those present. This compact will be used as a reference document or compass that can guide Deauville partners through the coming months and years on how to help improve governance policies in transition countries, e.g. through CSOs for instance. Germany also
mentioned that two additional events are planned during its DP Presidency: (i) a meeting of CSO representatives in Berlin around October 2015; and (ii) a regional integration event co‐hosted with Morocco. It outlined that it is reviewing the EU neighborhood policy to signal the importance of both Eastern and Southern partners. Finally, it announced that an informal Ministerial meeting was planned in Beirut in June 2015 with participation from Arab Ministers of Finance.
Finance Track Debrief: During the meetings in April, a financial inclusion action plan was introduced which represents a first step towards a coordinated approach in dealing with financial inclusion. The meeting also agreed that the IFI CP has strengthened coordination efforts and added value both on country and sector avenues. Germany indicated it will chair a Finance Minister’s meeting in Peru at the sidelines of the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings: (i) a Senior Officials Meeting will take place on September 10, 2015; and (ii) a conference on job creation will be organized on September 11, 2015.
5) Future Funding Prospects and Continuation of the Transition Fund Beyond 2015 A presentation was made on the funding outlook of the Transition Fund by the CU (see Annex 7). Two scenarios were presented: (i) the initial capitalization of $250 million – if additional contributions of $27 million are raised, the final tranche of the US contribution of $10 million will kick‐in bringing the total Fund size its original envisaged envelope; and (ii) Mid‐Term Review recommendation which called for the extension of the life of the Fund by two years and additional contributions sufficient for two annual calls for proposals of no less than $30 million each. This scenarios assumes an additional contribution of $150 will be needed. The CU also indicated that around $20 million will be available for the next SC meeting, but no prospects after that. Germany indicated that the extension of the Fund needs to be tackled now even though financing targets have not been met. The Fund has been a valuable instrument for all parties involved, and particularly transition countries who need political support at this crucial time. When asked for their views, all transition countries present outlined strong support for the Fund. They indicated that reform implementation is an evolutionary process, and time is needed to demonstrate concrete results. The technical assistance and trainings supported by the Fund are important as transition countries work towards improving their investment climate, enhancing governance and transparency, supporting sustainable growth, etc. Donors and the IFI CP likewise agreed with the extension of the Fund. Germany announced a possible contribution of at least an additional $5 million to the Fund in 2016 and Canada indicated additional resources may also be available in 2016. Ultimately the SC agreed, with the consent of the Trustee and Coordination Unit, to extend the timeframe of the Transition Fund by two years1 and accordingly adopted the following amendments to the Operations Manual, which is applicable to all Contribution Agreements and Financial Procedures Agreements. To extend the last day by which the SC can approve projects and the Trustee can transfer funds, the definitions for End Approval Date and End Transfer Date, respectively, as set forth in the Transition Fund Arrangements in section 3 (para. 12) and in the Glossary in section 9 of the Operations Manual, are hereby amended with immediate effect as follows:
“End Approval Date” means five three years after the date the first Project is approved.
1 End Approval Date extended to December 10, 2017 and End Transfer Date extended to December 10, 2020
“End Transfer Date” means eight six years after the date the first Project is approved. They also agreed that the decision to increase funding above the $250 million target needs to take place at a higher political level, perhaps at the DP Ministerial level, and the SC should remain resolutely focused on reaching the initial capitalization target. Germany will take the lead in raising this issue. 6) Sixth Call Project Approvals Six projects totaling about $19.1 million were submitted for SC consideration. All projects were approved, including two with caveats to be taken into account. The list of projects submitted and breakdown of funds by project and ISA is provided in Annex 8. Below is a list of projects approved, including any additional stipulation requested by the SC:
Enhancing the Investment Climate in Egypt through Equal Access and Simplified Environment for Investment and Fostered Investment Policy, Legal and Institutional Framework for $7.04 million with the WB and OECD;
Morocco Improving Connectivity in the Maghreb for $3.3 million with the WB and OECD;
Regional: Leveraging Regulatory Reform to Advance Financial Inclusion (Egypt and Jordan) for a total of $1.7 million with IFC;
Regional: Towards Inclusive and Open Governments: Promoting Women’s Participation in Parliaments and Policy‐making (Egypt, Jordan and Morocco) for a total of $1.9 million with OECD;
Jordan National Center for Innovation, Higher Council for Science and Technology for $2.6 million with EBRD. The first tranche (comprising direct and indirect costs) as determined by EBRD to cover the cost of the mapping exercise may be requested by EBRD. Jordan and EBRD agreed to submit to the SC the mapping exercise once completed. SC members will have 10 business days to review and send comments if any. EBRD will then be in a position to request the second tranche for the remainder of the activities.
Tunisia Enhancing Governance and Economic Growth: Promoting Transparency and Integrity in Public Procurement was approved for $2.5 million with AfDB contingent upon the following comments being taken into account: o The results should take into account, over time, indicators related to transparency and
corruption, in addition to the decrease in the number of days for procurement processing o Unification of procurement systems should be a long‐term goal of the project once the
appropriate systems are established and in place o Ensure country institution take control of training aspects to ensure sustainability
7) Transition Fund Results and Communications Strategy The CU gave a brief presentation on the results of some of the interventions supported by the Fund highlighting that it is still early days to demonstrate stronger results. The results of the Fund should be
viewed in the context of the massive challenges facing transition countries, and the limited scope of Transition Fund. The presentation is provided in Annex 9. The SC remarked that communication efforts will now be key to mobilizing additional funds for the Transition Fund and approved the development of a video to capture the results of the Fund. In addition, ISAs were urged to provide project stories to the CU to enable more effective communication efforts. 8) Project Implementation Progress The CU gave a brief presentation on projects that were flagged as slow disbursing in the December 2014 progress update (see Annex 10). An update was requested from both the countries and ISAs on these projects to better assess implementation bottlenecks. The meeting agreed on the need and importance of closely surveilling projects which were rated MU/U (currently at 15% of the portfolio as of December 2014) in order to improve impacts of the portfolio on the ground. The CU indicated that a re‐assessment of individual project performance will take place during the next progress update in July 2015. The SC asked ISAs to provide an update on progress of red‐flagged projects in September, with further discussion to be had on any projects that were still not performing at the next SC meeting in December. To facilitate reallocation options for TCs, the SC agreed to revise the June 2014 decision taken on how cancelled funding can be reallocated to also include the possibility of reallocating cancelled funds for additional financing requests to existing projects. Specifically, the decision was amended as follows:
“The meeting decided that TCs can propose project cancellations for which funding will remain assigned to the respective TC for a period of 6 months for new project submissions or for additional financing of active projects. If new submissions or additional financing requests are not received within 6 months from cancellation, the funds can be allocated to projects from other TCs.”
In addition, the SC approved the restructuring of the Jordan and Morocco Promoting Financial Inclusion via Mobile Financial Services in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean. Cancelled funds from each restructuring will be applied as follows:
$465,000 will be reallocated from the Jordan EIB Promoting Financial Inclusion project to an existing project as additional financing yet to be determined by Jordan. The additional financing request has to be submitted for virtual SC approval before August 20, 2015. The reallocation of cancelled funds to a new project submission is not possible in this case given the next round of new projects approvals is scheduled for December 2015; and
$285,000 will be reallocated from the Morocco EIB Promoting Financial Inclusion project to another new or existing project as additional financing yet to be determined by Morocco. A new project submission has to be submitted prior to the November 4, 2015 call for proposals deadline, whereas an additional financing request has to be submitted for virtual SC approval before November 18, 2015.
If the cancelled funds are not allocated within the timeframe indicated above by each country, or if such timely submissions or requests are not approved by the SC, the funds can be allocated to projects from other TCs in the next round of project approvals. Finally, the SC approved the extension of closing dates for the following projects:
Jordan EIB SME Growth Program to April 20, 2018
Jordan WB Active Labor Management Program to June 30, 2017
Libya AfDB Leading the Way to December 31, 2016
Tunisia AfDB Leading the Way to June 30, 2017
Tunisia OFID Energy Reform Plan to December 31, 2016
Yemen WB Enterprise Revitalization and Employment Pilot to December 31, 2016 The SC also discussed the status of projects in Libya and Yemen given the difficult situation on the ground. A number of the activities being implemented in Libya will continue to operate and provide training and technical assistance from the outside the country. On the other hand, most Yemen operations are currently suspended except the AFESD/OECD Rule of Law project in which the training component is also being implemented from outside of Yemen. 9) Other Items including Date of Next SC Meeting and Closing Remarks
Transition countries agreed that Egypt can continue co‐Chairing the Transition Fund for the rest of the calendar year. Morocco indicated it is prepared, if needed, to assume Chairmanship starting January 2016.
The Egyptian co‐Chair announced its willingness to host the next SC meeting in Cairo on December 7, 2015. SC members all agreed given the importance of ensuring there is adequate time for project preparation. The CU will issue a call for proposals as soon as possible.
The co‐Chairs thanked the rest of the SC members for joining the meeting and making it a very productive and efficient one.
Annex 1: List of Meeting Participants
No Country/IFI Participants Organization
1 Canada Michael Callan CIDA
2 Denmark Mikael Erbs‐Jorgensen Ministry of Foreign Affairs
3 Egypt Ramy Ahmed Ministry of International Cooperation
4 Egypt Ibrahim El‐Khouli Embassy of Egypt to Germany
5 Egypt Mohammed Hammam Ministry of International Cooperation
6 France Fabien Gonguet Ministry of Economy and Finance
7 Germany Christiane Bögemann‐Hagedorn
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
8 Germany Annalena Edler Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
9 Germany Gisela Habel Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
10 Germany Jerome Keusen Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
11 Germany Michael Reuss Ministry of Foreign Affairs Germany
12 Germany Arne Rosenberger Federal Ministry of Finance
13 Germany Niels Schuett Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
14 Japan Tasuku Watanabe Ministry of Finance
15 Jordan Fawaz Al‐Karmi Higher Council for Science and Technology
16 Jordan Saleh Al‐Kharabsheh Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation
17 Jordan Zeina Toukan Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation
18 Libya Tarek Awad Embassy of Libya to Germany
19 Libya Moraja Buhlaiga Ministry of Finance
20 Morocco Mohamed El Gholabzouri Ministry of Economy and Finances of Morocco
21 Netherlands Frank Keurhorst Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands
22 Norway Eivind Vad Petersson Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norway
No Country/IFI Participants Organization
23 Qatar Sultan Al‐Aseeri Qatar Development Fund
24 Qatar Khalifa Al‐Kuwari Qatar Development Fund
25 Russia Pavel Evseev Ministry of Finance
26 Saudi Arabia Fahd Al‐Nowaiser Saudi Fund for Development
27 Saudi Arabia Turkey Al‐Turkey Ministry of Finance
28 Tunisia Sonia Ben Nasser Ministry of Multilateral Cooperation
29 Tunisia Najoua Khraief Ministry of Multilateral Cooperation
30 Tunisia Imen Laajili Embassy of Tunisia to Germany
31 United Arab Emirates Abdul Rahman Aljaber
32 United Kingdom Laura Aumeer DfID
33 United Kingdom Matthew Little HM Treasury
34 United Kingdom Tim Williams DfID
35 United States of America Clemence Landers US Treasury
36 United States of America Elizabeth Shortino US Treasury
37 Yemen Adel Al‐Sheikh Embassy of Yemen to Germany
38 AfDB Yasser Ahmad
39 AfDB Yasmine Eita
40 EBRD Hildegard Gacek
41 EBRD Heike Harmgart
42 EBRD Adrian Keler
43 EIB Julien Serre
44 IFC Rapti Goonesekere
45 IFC Matthew S. Leonard
46 IsDB Amadou Diallo
47 OECD Georg Felsheim
48 OECD Jocelyn Pierre
No Country/IFI Participants Organization
49 OECD Marie‐Estelle Rey
50 OECD Tatyana Teplova
51 OECD Florian Theus
52 OFID Mahmoud Khene
53 IFI Coordination Platform Ioannis Kaltsas
54 European Commission Silvia Crescimbeni
55 WORLD BANK Sahar Nasr
56 WORLD BANK Trustee Darius Stangu
57 WORLD BANK Coordination Unit Franck Bousquet
58 WORLD BANK Coordination Unit Hayat Al‐Harazi
59 WORLD BANK Coordination Unit Thomas Djurhuus
60 WORLD BANK / CMI Giulia Marchesini
Annex 2: Egypt co‐Chair Remarks
Honorable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning, Allow me first to express my pleasure to be co‐chairing the 7th steering committee of the fund and the third for Egypt as a co‐chair. A meeting that is considered a major cornerstone for the future and the life of the Transition Fund one of the most active mechanisms that came out of Deauville partnership and managed to have tangible results on the ground. Throughout the term of Egypt Co‐chairmanship, almost a year and a half, we managed first with the support of Canada to allocate funds for 10 projects amounting more than 30 million dollars and today with the support of Germany we are here to evaluate 6 projects with a total amount of more than 19 million dollars. And since December 2012, a total of more than 170 million dollars were allocated. We believe that the Fund’s role in countries in transition can’t be denied, for this reason our important question and a major issue for discussion today is HOW?? How can we ensure the sustainability of Transition Fund and secure resources needed to maintain its goals on ground not only the previously agreed upon 250 million but even beyond?
We hope that today we agree to extend the time frame of the Transition Fund by two more years and adopt some amendments to the Operation’s Manual to extend the last day by which the Steering Committee can approve Projects and the Trustee can transfer funds accordingly, to change the “End Approval Date” to five years after the date the first Project is approved, and the “End Transfer Date” to eight years after the date the first Project is approved.
Another important issue on the meeting’s agenda is the issue of the future of Chairmanship. All I need to emphasize in this regard is that Egypt was always and will always be committed to the fund whatever the decision to be agreed upon today among members. At last allow me to say that “In a globalized world full of challenges that we can’t avoid their effect, I believe that partnership among equals is essential for all countries to survive.”
Thanks for your attention and looking forward for a fruitful meeting
Annex 3: German co‐Chair Remarks
I welcome all of you to Berlin and BMZ, also as representative of current G7 Presidency. I am pleased to share the chairmanship and moderation of this meeting with my distinguished colleague Mohamed Hammam from Egypt and would like to thank Egypt for the continued commitment as Transition Fund Co‐Chair. After having recently held Deauville Finance Track SOM and Conference on Financial Inclusion – which many of you attended ‐ on the opposite site of the road at the Ministry of Finance, we are once again united at a very historic site where the worst and the best of this country’s historic experiences took place – dictatorship and division, but then finally also overcoming of division and transformation to democracy and prosperity. May this also be motivation for us to jointly continue support for the transformation processes in the MENA region, even if those may at times be cumbersome, long‐term and volatile. We experienced such transformation processes in our own country as well as in Eastern Europe and we know that historic developments are not linear. The great diversity of countries and institutions around the table already makes clear how special the Transition Fund is – I thank you all for having come here to discuss very important issues, including new project proposals for the TF, but also the way forward on projects that may not work so well as well as a more general perspective on the TF’s future. In my view, the TF is and remains an important political symbol and as an implementation tool of international commitment to the MENA region. It adds significant value to the Deauville Partnership framework through concrete and visible support for the people in the transition countries. I would like to highlight three key strengths of the TF that make the instrument so extraordinary valuable in my view:
1) It is unique in terms of the configuration of actors around the table – it provides a regional platform for exchange and coordination where MENA transition countries, donor countries and IFIs can discuss the region’s transformation challenges from a very concrete development perspective.
2) It provides added value as an aid instrument targeting technical assistance in key areas that are important for the transition countries’ reform agenda and transformation processes. Its multilateral platform character creates opportunities for cooperation from political to working level that could not be realized by bilateral donors alone. Also, the “technical” aspect implies that the TF’s work is different from classical infrastructure investment – it is more about reform agendas than about road construction.
3) It is a well‐managed fund with strong performance and a good place for donors to invest. The TF was successfully set up in extremely short time in 2012; its coordination unit is performing very well and the mid‐term review has recently confirmed the TF’s good performance and relevance. Also the monitoring, evaluation and reporting on project implementation has become a key focus.
I want to thank all partners involved – our partner governments in the transition countries, IFIs and donor partners, World Bank’s Coordination Unit and once again our Egyptian co‐chairs for their excellent
contributions to the TF’s work. In this context, I also especially welcome observers including Netherlands, Norway and EU and hope that the value added of cooperating with and participating in the TF will become evident during this meeting. Without doubt, the situation in a number of transition countries has changed considerably since setting up the TF, and not always to the better. But, as mentioned before, reform processes are often long‐term, fundamental, and volatile. The region will need our continued support, even if (and maybe the more) transition is proceeding along different trajectories in our partner countries. Given its comparative strengths, the Deauville Partnership and the TF can play an important role in the years to come. As acting co‐chair of the Fund, Germany’s vision of the Fund for 2015 and beyond is therefore one of a strong, focused, and efficient instrument with a broad basis of support. I see 3 key challenges for the future work of the TF:
1) We need to further strengthen focus on results and on selected key issues that are important for the region’s development – in order to maximize TF’s impact and efficiency. Tomorrow’s session on project implementation and progress will be an important element of these efforts, and I thank partner countries and IFIs for submitting their detailed notes on projects which are facing disbursement or implementation delays.
2) Make even better use of the comparative strengths of the TF in terms of coordination; increasing the thematic linkages between TF and the Deauville tracks; enhanced exchange between donors and transition countries.
3) To realize the full potential of the TF, it will be key that the initial capitalization target of 250 Mio. USD will be met. We have received interesting proposals for new projects this time and I am looking forward to discussing them later today, but in order to have another round of new project proposals this year it will be crucial that funds that have been pledged are fully paid‐in and that we continue to reach out for the full capitalization target. This could also be an important signal to existing or potential new partners to provide further funding. Under German co‐chairmanship, we have intensified outreach efforts to existing and potential new donors, for example at the OECD ARAB‐DAC Dialogue in January 2015; also through bilateral letters by Minister Müller; Germany might also be ready to pledge 2nd tranche in addition to already paid‐in 10.6 Mio. USD in 2016. A more detailed discussion of this issue is scheduled for later this morning.
Now is the time for strengthening the partnership. Should it become evident that there is some kind of “fatigue” around the Deauville Partnership and the TF, we should take the opportunity to discuss the reasons and how to overcome them during this meeting. The TF may certainly have to adapt to changed circumstances in the region. We as German co‐chair stand ready to facilitate discussions on this and are hoping for intense and fruitful debate. However intense these discussions may be, I remain convinced that the TF will continue to be a highly useful and efficient instrument for cooperation with the MENA region. Thank you.
Annex 4: Agenda
MENA Transition Fund Seventh Steering Committee Meeting
May 18th and 19th, 2015 (Berlin, Germany)
Day 1: May 18th
Welcome Coffee 10:00 am – 10:30 am
Lunch 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Coffee 3:45 pm – 4:00 pm
Session 10:30 am – 1:30 pm
1. Welcome by Co‐Chairs (Germany and Egypt)
2. Opening remarks by Germany (as Chair of the DP)
3. Introduction and adoption of the agenda (Co chair GER)
4. Update by the Trustee and the FY16 administrative budgets for approval (Trustee)
5. Update by Coordination Unit (Coordination Unit)
6. Comments on the operation of the Transition Fund to date (IFI Coordination Platform Secretariat, on behalf of ISAs)
7. Presentation of the main results of SOM Governance Track and SOM Finance Track
8. Discussion of future funding prospects and the continuance of the Transition Fund after 2015
9. Presentation of Transition Fund results ( Coordination Unit)
Session 2:30 pm – 3:45pm
10. Presentation of new project proposals by transition countries (with any needed information from ISAs)
Q&A, Discussion of proposals
Assessment rounds
Meeting ends at 6:30 pm
7:30 pm Reception, Hosted by the German Co‐chair
Day 2: May 19th
Welcome Coffee 8:30 am – 9:00 am
Coffee 10:30 am – 10:50 am
Lunch 1:00 pm, Meeting ends at 2pm
Session 4:00 pm – 6:30 pm
10. continued: Presentation of new project proposals by transition countries (with any needed information from ISAs)
Q&A, Discussion of proposals
Assessment rounds
11. Wrap‐up and final funding decision on prescreened proposals
Session 09:00 am – 10:30 am
10. Discussion on project implementation and progress (introduction by Coordination Unit, followed by project‐specific information from TCs, with ISA input where requested)
Session 10:50 am – 1:30 am
11. continued: Discussion on project implementation and progress
12. Discussion on Country Co‐Chair for the rest of 2015
13. Any other business, including date of next Call for Proposals
14. Recap of decisions made (Executive Secretary)
15. Conclusion by Co‐Chairs
Annex 5: Trustee Financial Presentation
Annex 6: Coordination Unit Update
Annex 7: Funding Outlook
Annex 8: List of Projects Approved
Country
#
Project Name
Direct Costs Indirect Costs Total
Funding Requested
TC‐Executed
ISA Name Amount
ISA Name Amount
ISA‐Executed Total
ISA Name Amount
ISA Name Amount Total
Egypt
1
Enhancing the Investment Climate in Egypt, through Equal Access and Simplified Environment for Investment (EASE) and Fostered Investment Policy, Legal and Institutional Framework
Tunisia Total 1 2,298,900 ‐ 2,298,900 230,000 2,528,900
GRAND TOTAL 9 1 9,729,210 7,959,299 17,688,509 1,376,749 19,065,258 1 These are part of regional projects. The total number of projects if considered regionally, is 6
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