On 19 April 2013, Finance Ministers and international financial institutions of the Deauville Partnership with Arab Countries in Transition met in Washington, to advance our shared objective of supporting the development of open economies and inclusive growth in Arab transition countries.
Ministers re-affirmed their support for economic transition in Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen, and emphasised the importance of a co-ordinated response from the international community to support the financial stabilisation and home grown reforms that advance economic growth and employment creation.
Economic pressures remain significant for a number of countries in the region with fiscal and external buffers having diminished sharply, underscoring the urgent need to focus on maintaining macroeconomic stability in an environment of sluggish global growth, commodity price volatility, and still impaired domestic confidence. The implementation of structural reforms was identified as a key priority for supporting sustainable and inclusive growth that expands opportunities, especially for young men and women, and creates an environment to foster private sector growth.
Ministers welcomed the progress made by Jordan and Morocco under the financing agreements made with the IMF in 2012 and the announcement of staff-level agreement for a programme for Tunisia, supported Libya’s engagement with the IMF, and encouraged further progress towards the conclusion of discussions between the IMF and Egypt and Yemen. Ministers noted the key role played by bilateral donors and multilateral institutions in providing budget support to enable financial stabilization and underpin governance and structural reforms.
Ministers thanked the Islamic Development Bank IDB for its contribution as chair of the IFI co-ordination platform, in coordinating assistance to the transition countries, including activities under the Transition Fund and SME development. The IDB also announced it intends to undertake Deauville Partnership regional investment conferences in all transition countries in 2013, starting with Egypt and Tunisia in June 2013.Ministers welcomed four priorities set out to support the development of open economies and inclusive growth under UK chairmanship of the Partnership in 2013:
