Small states to benefit from US$750,000 grant

The World Bank has approved a three-year grant of US$750,000 to fund projects which aim to help members of the Small States Network for Economic Development.

The grant, which was allocated from the World Bank Development Grant Facility, is expected to be used to establish a transitional organisation responsible for the network’s day-to-day affairs as well as finance appropriate projects, including a programme which will help recovery efforts in the event of a disaster. It was approved last year by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors.

At a meeting between the World Bank, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the six founding members of the network, held in Malta on 29 February 2008, Malta was selected as the Chair, and Barbados as the Vice-Chair on a two-year rotational basis. It was also decided that a group of regionally representative eminent persons be appointed to draft the provisional work programme for the network.

A statement issued soon after the Malta meeting, said the Central Bank of Malta was chosen to act as the fiduciary agent of the Small States Network and to also provide temporary headquarters. The founding members of the network are: Barbados, Malta, Mauritius, St Kitts and Nevis, Samoa and Vanuatu.

Within the next few weeks, the Secretariat will be working on the operating procedures for the network as well as the recruitment of the group of eminent persons.

To date, 17 small states - including the founding members - have formally joined the network. It is anticipated, however, that the remaining members of the Small States Forum will formally join in the next few months.

At the next annual Small States Forum, countries other than the founding members will be invited to select one small state from any region to be a member of the Board of Trustees. Two or three donor institutions that contribute to the Network for Economic Development will also be invited to join the Board of Trustees.

Dr Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Director of the Secretariat’s Economic Affairs Division, said: "The network is an important initiative that will enable the sharing of expertise among small states."

The establishment of this network was proposed by Malta at the 2005 Small States Forum, and the mandate to establish it was given by the 2006 Forum held in Singapore. The first board meeting of the Board of Trustees was held in the wings of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Annual Meeting in October 2007. That meeting activated the network and gave Malta the mandate to register the Small States Network for Economic Development as a legal entity in Malta.

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• Small States
• Economics