Brussels - Marrakesh: Europe and the Arabs
A number of members of the European Commission are participating this week in the 2023 annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Marrakesh, Morocco. The event will bring together finance and development ministers, central bank governors, and representatives of the private sector and civil society organizations to discuss key global economic and international development issues. Bilateral meetings will be held bringing together senior officials in the Commission with a number of ministers from Arab and other countries, according to a statement issued by the Commission’s headquarters in Brussels, which indicated that yesterday, Wednesday, Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, in charge of the economic file, participated in a round table meeting on support for Ukraine. Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen also attended the high-level event to finance the Poverty Reduction and Growth Programme.
Today, Thursday, October 12, Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis will meet with Aziz Akhannouch, Prime Minister of Morocco, together with Commissioner Gentiloni, and will participate in the G5 European Union Finance Ministers’ meeting. Commissioner Gentiloni will participate in the G7 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors. He will also hold bilateral meetings with Sergei Marchenko, Ukrainian Finance Minister, and Marwan El Abbasi, Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia. Commissioner Mairead McGuinness will participate in a regulatory roundtable discussion hosted by Janet Yellen, US Treasury Secretary. In addition, she is scheduled to meet with several finance ministers, including Nadia Fattah Alaoui, of Morocco, and Will Edun, of Nigeria, as well as with David Masondo, Deputy Minister of Finance of South Africa. Commissioner McGuinness will also meet with Abdellatif Jouahri, Governor of the Bank of Morocco, Fatima Zahra Aziz, Executive Director of the Moroccan Foundation for Financial Education, and Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England. Commissioner Urpilainen will participate in the meeting of the Development Committee of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, where important decisions will be taken on the reform of the World Bank.
Tomorrow, Friday, October 13, Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis will meet with several ministers, including Sergei Marchenko, Minister of Finance of Ukraine, and Riad Mazour, Minister of Trade of Morocco. Commissioner Gentiloni will participate in the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting and will hold a bilateral meeting with Sri Mulyani, Indonesian Minister of Finance. In the context of the 2023 IIF Annual Membership Meeting, Commissioner McGuinness will participate in a plenary conversation with Clay Lowry, Executive Vice President of IIF. She will also meet with Mehmet Simsik, Turkish Minister of Treasury and Finance, and Karin Keller-Sutter, Federal Chancellor for Finance of the Swiss Confederation.
On Saturday, October 14, Executive Vice President Dombrovskis will meet with Aziz Akhannouch, Prime Minister of Morocco; Mohamed Maait, Egyptian Minister of Finance, Kristalina Georgieva, Director General of the International Monetary Fund, and others. He will also participate in the plenary session of the International Monetary and Financial Committee. Commissioner Gentiloni will participate in the G7-Africa Ministerial Roundtable and will hold bilateral meetings with Nadia Fattah Al-Alawi, Moroccan Minister of Finance, and Mohammed Al-Issis, Jordanian Minister of Finance.