Somalia asks the World Bank for additional drought relief funds.

Victoria Kwakwa, the vice president of the World Bank for Eastern and Southern Africa, arrived in Somalia on Saturday to meet with Somali leaders and thrash out World Bank development programs in Somalia on how they can work together to strengthen Somalia government institutions and plan ways to deal with upcoming droughts.

Kwakwa had an extraordinary meeting with Somali cabinet members chaired by Hamze Abdi Barre, the Somali prime minister. During the conference, the Somali government underlined that Somalia wanted the World Bank to help Somalia more and make sure that the development projects the World Bank was carrying out in Somalia were in line with national priorities.
The government on its side promised to revise the NDP-9 national development plan to accommodate ongoing World Bank projects in Somalia.

In the meeting, Somalia reiterated that it would meet the benchmarks for debt relief and ask for more money to help with the drought. It was predicted that Somalia would miss the fifth rainfall.

In the discussion, the Somali Prime Minister said that after the completion of the debt process, the Somali government would turn to implement major development projects, such as infrastructure projects.

Victoria Kwakwa praised the efforts the Somali government made to finish the debt relief process, the offensive against Al-Shabab, and its social protection projects. She also promised that the World Bank would keep helping the Somali government.

While in Somalia, she also visited Somali President Hassan Shiekh Mohamud in Villa Somalia.