MINSK, 28 March (BelTA) – Belarus expects to further advance cooperation with the World Bank. The statement was made by First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vasily Matyushevsky as he met with a World Bank delegation led by Senior Vice President for Operations Kyle Peters on 28 March, BelTA has learned.
The First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus expressed gratitude for the work the World Bank does in the country, particularly efforts to secure steady economic growth. Belarus and the World Bank develop partnership in healthcare, education, and social security. “As part of medium-term and long-term development programs we focus on ensuring sustainable economic growth in the interest of the entire Belarusian nation,” stressed the First Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus. “In this context cooperation with the World Bank has always been important for Belarus. Over 25 years of working together the World Bank has invested over $1.6 billion within the framework of joint projects.” The money went into power engineering, the enhancement of the transit potential, efforts to ensure ecological stability, and efforts to raise living standards of the population.
Positive dynamics towards expanding the spheres of interaction with the World Bank has been seen in the last few years, added Vasily Matyushevsky. As part of the World Bank partnership strategy for 2014-2017 the implementation of seven projects worth about $650 million has begun in Belarus, including projects in healthcare and education.
“Trustful relations have evolved between Belarus and the bank. We expect to be able to continue seeing the bank as a reliable strategic partner. I would like to express confidence that as part of the new strategy we will be able to considerably increase the volume of World Bank operations in Belarus and to successfully implement a lot of significant projects,” summed up Vasily Matyushevsky.
