Saudi Gazette report RIYADH – The Kingdom Friday pledged to give $25 million to a World Bank fund to help ease economic transition in nations affected by the Arab Spring. Countries participating in the so-called “Deauville Partnership,” formed in response to uprisings last year in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, announced the new “Transition Fund” after a meeting Friday in Tokyo, Japan. Altogether, they promised to donate $165 million to the fund, which aims to help build economic institutions and promote reforms in the Arab Spring countries. The partnership includes the Group of Eight major nations – Germany, France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Japan, Italy and Canada – as well as oil producing nations from the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. They are hoping to raise a total of $250 million for the fund, which will also provide grants for economic governance, trade, investment, inclusive development and job creation. The US has pledged $50 million, Britain $25 million and France $12 million. The group also announced that Yemen was joining the Arab Spring countries participating in the Deauville Partnership, which also include Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco and Libya. Numerous international lenders including the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, OPEC Fund For International Development and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) are supporting the partnership, which was set up in 2011 in Deauville, France, at a summit of the Group of Eight industrial nations. “As part of efforts to support the Middle East and North African economies, Japan has pledged $12 million over three years for the MENA Transition Fund,” Japanese Finance Minister Koriki Jojima told reporters after the meeting with finance ministers gathered in Tokyo for semiannual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
