World Bank chief wants to help post-conflict nations more quickly

by Richard Kilner

Story link: World Bank chief wants to help post-conflict nations more quickly

Robert Zoellick, the World Bank’s president, has said he wants to find faster methods of deploying funds to post-conflict African countries attempting to get back on their feet.

Yesterday Zoellick met the finance minister of Liberia, Togo, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast during a visit to Liberia.

The country endured over a decade of civil war, which was only curtailed five years ago.

A number of different organisations have given assistance to Liberia, including the UN which provides peacekeeping soldiers, and donors who aim to improve the country’s infrastructure so it has a good road network and regular electricity supply.

Later on his African tour the World Bank president will attend an African Union summit in Ethiopia, the first World Bank chief to do so.

Zoellick believes that it is in the immediate post-conflict period that more can be done to assist countries, who may be unable to offer basic provision of public services.

He went on to say that early job creation would be a good step in helping a nation rebuild, and that skilled workers needed to be trained swiftly, or else attracted back to the country.