Announcement of Meeting on Coordination of External Assistance to Tunisia on October 8, 1965

INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR • RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 65/53 Subject: Meet int. on Coordination of October 8, 1965 External Assistance to Tunisia A meeting of countries interested in the development plans of Tunisia was held on October 6 in Washington under the auspices of the World Bank. The Tunisian Secretary of State for Planning and National Economy, Mr. Ahmed Ben Salah, addressed the meeting, which thtn examined the role of the Consultative Group as an effective instrument for coordinating external assistance to Tunisia. The countries repre- sented were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Nether-· lands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The • African Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund were also represented at the meeting. In the course of his tr~Lk the Secretary of State touched upon the de~:elopmr-mt needs of Tunisia as they are being worked out in the Four-Year ~lan (1965-1908) and in the economic budget for 1966. He stressed the fact that alt:1ough don1estic savings will have to play a m~jor role in financing the projected iuvestmcnt~, there would 'still remain a substantial resource gap which could be filled only with assist4nce from friendly countries, This view ~as supported by the recP.nt World Bank Economic Mission to Tunisia. The countries represented at the Meeting e~:pressed appreciation of the pre- sentation made by the Secretary of State and of the work of the World Bank Mis- sion and agreed that the Group would meet again in Paris on November 22 and 23, 1965 to discuss the findings of the Bank economic report and to exchange informa- • tioi, and views on external assistance to Tunisia in 1966.