Harold Doan and Associates (press release), CA
June 3 2005

Van Ardenne and Zalm to visit Georgia and Armenia

Press Release – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

>>From 10 to 12 June, Minister for Development Cooperation Agnes van
Ardenne and Minister of Finance Gerrit Zalm will visit Georgia and
Armenia, two of the Netherlands’ development partners. They will be
meeting representatives of government, NGOs, financial institutions
and UN organisations. In Armenia, Zalm and Van Ardenne will sign
agreements facilitating Dutch investment there. The trip will end
with informal talks between the members of the Netherlands’
constituency at the World Bank and IMF.

In 2005, Georgia and Armenia will receive ~@4 and ~@4.7 million
respectively in general budget support from the Netherlands. These
funds will be spent on the priorities discussed in a strategic plan
drawn up by the governments of the countries themselves, civil
society and donor countries. These priorities include combating
corruption and promoting good governance (in the case of Georgia) and
improving tax collection and strengthening small and medium-sized
businesses (in the case of Armenia). The Dutch private sector can
also help through grant programmes like the Programme for Cooperation
with Emerging Markets (PSOM) and joint ventures with local firms. The
Dutch embassy in Armenia and Georgia is also funding a number of
projects relating to government financial management. One such
project aims to make government expenditure more transparent.

The Netherlands represents eleven countries at the World Bank and
IMF, including Georgia and Armenia. On their own, these countries
would be too small to have a seat on the Executive Board, and hence
they are grouped together in constituencies. As the largest
shareholder, the Netherlands heads the constituency and provides the
executive directors (World Bank: Ad Melkert, IMF: Jeroen Kremers).
Each year, the finance and development ministers of the countries in
the Netherlands’ constituency take part in informal talks. This year,
they will be held in Georgia.