Newly appointed World Bank Country Director for Ukraine and Belarus Paul Siegelbaum gave an upbeat assessment of reform in Ukraine at an introductory press conference Tuesday July 1. I think Ukraine has tremendous potential, he told reporters.
Fresh from a meeting with President Leonid Kuchma, Siegelbaum said he was optimistic the banks aid programs for Ukraine would continue on track. Our discussions were never whether reform should occur, but how and when, he said.
Siegelbaums meeting with President Kuchma came at the end of a ten-day visit to Ukraine, during which the newly appointed country director got a chance to acquaint himself with the country he will oversee and its economic problems.
[Ukraine] still has many problems, in the energy sector for example, Siegelbaum told reporters. The energy sector was one of the topics of the discussions with President Kuchma, and Siegelbaum was cautiously optimistic that the World Bank could help Ukraine find solutions to its fuel problems. This is not going to be a quick process, but Im looking forward to getting to work on [these problems] and developing a strategy that will help Ukraine, he said.In late May the World Bank delayed release of a $150 million tranche of a loan for Ukraines struggling coal industry, citing the governments failure to put together a program to ease the social costs that closing unprofitable mines will cause.
Siegelbaum also told reporters how the present sweeping reorganization of the World Banks structure would affect the international lenders relations with Ukraine. Formerly, Ukraine was one of eight countries in the World Banks second European division. Now, it shares a single department with neighboring Belarus.
The objective [of this change] is obvious to enable people to focus more on a country. At the same time the technical department was made larger, in an effort to bring experts together so deeper knowledge can be gained, he said.
Siegelbaum, who will direct the Ukraine and Belarus department from World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C., emphasized that the resident mission will still play a crucial role in the Banks relations with Ukrainian authorities.
Technically, my responsibilities include the overall relationship between the World Bank and Ukraine … I manage the offices of the resident mission, but I dont consider this technicality very important. The group that works on Ukraine is a team. Whats important is how that team functions as a group and what they can do, he said.
