Somaliland Minister of Finance Dr. Saad Ali Shire opened a one-day workshop, which analyzed the effectiveness of development projects conducted by the World Bank in Somaliland. This important meeting brought together more than 10 Ministries/Agencies, which are part of those projects.
So, Somaliland’s Minister of Finance Dr. Saad Ali Shire, who spoke at the opening of the meeting, said: “This year, 2023, I have counted about fourteen projects based on the correspondence we have had with the World Bank, which include both those that have not yet started and those that have started, all of which are funded by the World Bank, including: Civil Service Strengthening Project, Somali Electricity Sector Project, East African Digital Integration Project, Somaliland Food Systems Resilience Project, Somaliland Electricity Access Project, Horn Africa Ground Water for Resilience Project, Horn-Africa Infrastructure Integration Project, Strengthening Social Cohesion Inclusionary Resilience Through Community Institutions, Customs Support Project, Barwaaqo Project, Educational Human Capital Project, Country Private Sector Diagnostic and Supporting Financial Inclusion and Private Sector Led Recovery Services.
So the World Bank is really a very important supporter or donor for us or a place where we get a lot of money. When I put together the price list of the projects that Kristine sent us, their value is $129,000,000 USD, so they have invested in projects equivalent to one hundred and twenty nine dollars. , so it is really very important to us.
since there are many stakeholders, including ministries and agencies that are part of these projects, the purpose of our workshop today is to create a forum that includes those who benefit from World Bank projects to share our experiences, and if there are areas that need to be addressed or if there are concerns from the Bank’s side, to unite and strengthen our voice to reach them, and to make sure that each project has completed its budget allocation to avoid an unnecessary extensions which come every time, because every time there is a delay, it reduces the opportunity to be given another money and how we can follow the overall projects provided by the Bank to those who are part of us and those who are not, in order to look for what is allocated for the former state of Somali Republic, so that we have to follow up on what has not reached us and to have a good cooperation among us, and to communicate well, first of all the main purpose of the meeting is that, since you are all the stakeholders.
So the purpose of our meeting is that, and if I summarize it again, is to share our experience, any concerns we have to collect, what we need to cooperate with each other, to find what we have missing, that we should always follow up and check whether we have completed everything as assigned and allocated”.