At his meeting in Washington with World Bank President Robert Zoellick, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said that Estonia is ready to contribute to the World Bank’s projects more than before with experts on Estonia’s e-state and reform experiences.
Paet stated that the World Bank is the development bank with the widest global range for lending to governments and giving advice on reforms. “Estonia’s expertise in the area of IT in both the government and private sectors can be used in, for example, e-governing and e-tax systems. We are also offering the World Bank the opportunity to take advantage of the experiences of our IT experts,” he noted.
Zoellick recognised Estonia for coming to terms with the effects of the economic crisis and keeping the state’s budget balanced. Paet introduced Estonia’s plan for joining the euro zone to Zoellick.
Estonia has been a donor nation to the development co-operation projects of the World Bank since 2006. Paet stressed that when possible, Estonia has always taken the World Bank’s co-operation suggestions into consideration while planning development co-operation. “Estonia has contributed to many World Bank funds. For example, we have given to the International Development Association, the Trust Fund for the Kosovo Sustainable Employment Development Policy, and the Haiti Reconstruction Trust Fund created this year,” said Paet. “Estonia itself has received help from the World Bank and its experts prior to 2000, and for us it is important to be an active donor now, when we can share our own reform experiences and expertise,” he added.
Zoellick stated that Estonia’s experiences with e-state and reform activities are extremely welcome in World Bank projects.
The World Bank brings together five member organisations: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Estonia has been a member of the World Bank since 1992 and has been continuously represented in it since 2000. In the World Bank, Estonia works in close co-operation with the Nordic and Baltic countries.
The last time Estonia borrowed money from the World Bank was in 2000 to fund investments in the Estonian highway network. In the 1990s Estonia used loans and technical aid from the World Bank in the agricultural, energy, and health care sectors.