Finland stresses support for Ukraine at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Marrakech

Minister of Finance Riikka Purra attended the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Marrakech, Morocco this week. The meetings focused on the main issues facing the international economy and the current global situation. The most difficult issue raised at the meetings was condemning Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine.

Minister of Finance Riikka Purra represented the Nordic-Baltic Constituency at the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF, as well as at the meetings of the World Bank-IMF Joint Development Committee and the International Monetary and Financial Committee. Minister Purra said that Morocco, which is recovering from a severe earthquake, was very successful in hosting the Marrakech meetings and deserves heartfelt thanks from the participants.  
 
The main events at the IMF meeting focused on the state and outlook of the global economy and the Managing Director’s views on what role the IMF should play going forward. At the meeting of the World Bank, the focus was on the Bank’s ongoing reform process. A key priority for Finland at the meetings was expressing strong support for Ukraine and highlighting the importance of the World Bank and IMF’s support to Ukraine. Finland also stressed the integral role of the IMF and the World Bank in multilateral cooperation.
 
The meetings were not able to reach an agreement on joint communiqués. The main differences of opinion had to do with condemning Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Instead, the Joint Development Committee and the International Monetary and Financial Committee published statements from their chairs. This is the fourth time this has happened since the start of Russia’s war of aggression in February 2022.

In joint speeches by the Nordic-Baltic Constituency, Minister Purra strongly condemned Russia’s illegal war of aggression in Ukraine. Finland and the constituency demanded that the communiqués condemn Russia’s war of aggression in clear terms. However, the negotiators were unable to reach a consensus. As a result, only the chairs’ statements were issued.
 
“Finland’s policy on supporting Ukraine and condemning Russia’s war of aggression is clear. When formulating the language on Ukraine, we were not able to reach an agreement with the others in the negotiations. Our constituency was unable to accept the proposals for joint communiqués, because the texts on Russia were not strong or straightforward enough. There were no disagreements between the countries on other issues after the negotiations,” Minister Purra said.

Inquiries:
Leena Mörttinen, Permanent Under-Secretary, tel. +358 50 521 7269, leena.morttinen@gov.fi