December 2013: The g7+ – a group of conflict-affected countries in transition to the next stage of development – welcomed the World Bank’s recent measures to increase support to fragile and conflict-affected States (FCS), including plans to increase aid by up to 50% by 2017.

The organization’s latest newsletter highlights recent meetings between a g7+ delegation with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director Christine Lagarde in Washington, DC, US. Kim announced the increased allocations, noting that fragile states are a cornerstone of the Bank’s new strategy. Lagarde said the IMF will continue to review its support levels.

Timor-Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão welcomed the Bank’s recognition of fragile states as “the new front line of poverty reduction.” South Sudan Finance Minister Aggrey Tisa Sabuni urged the Bank to support g7+ countries in: the use of their own country systems, capacity building, accelerating job creation, and increasing eligibility for IDA funds.

In other recent g7+ developments, November meetings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), focused on New Deal implementation and 2014 planning by the steering group of the International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding (IDPS). The IDPS, with a secretariat hosted at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), provides support to the g7+. The New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States resulted from the Busan High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in November 2011, and identified peace building and state building goals as well as key areas of international engagement, including a shift to country-led fragility assessments and greater aid transparency.

The g7+ and IDPS organized a Ministerial Breakfast Meeting during the 68th UN General Assembly in New York, US, on the theme, ‘Putting Peace at the Heart of Sustainable Development.’ Denmark, South Sudan and Timor-Leste hosted the event, in which several ministers of g7+ countries shared their country experiences and demonstrated the links between peace and development. [December 2013 Newsletter] [g7+ Announcement of Ministerial Breakfast] [g7+ Press Release on Ministerial Breakfast] [g7+ Website] [IDPS Website] [New Deal Website] [IISD RS Story on World Bank Support for FCS]