This meeting reinforces the prominent role that the Kingdom holds at the heart of the UN peace architecture.
Strategic Partnership: On the occasion of the opening of the ECOSOC Forum on Development Financing, the United Nations headquarters in New York hosted a strategic dialogue between the UN peace architecture and the World Bank. Chaired by Ambassador Omar Hilale, Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN and President of the Peacebuilding Commission, this meeting with the executive directors of the Bretton Woods institution aims to redefine and strengthen the partnership between peace, conflict prevention, and development.
Morocco is setting a new direction for the peace-development partnership with the World Bank. A strategic dialogue was opened on Monday at the UN headquarters between the executive directors of the World Bank and Omar Hilale, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations and President of the Peacebuilding Commission. The purpose is to redefine the partnership between the UN peace architecture and the Bretton Woods institution. This is the third edition of this dialogue, following the two previous editions held in Washington in June 2024 and September 2025. This meeting, taking place during the opening of the ECOSOC Forum on Development Financing, highlights the prominent position that the Kingdom holds at the heart of the UN peace architecture. It confirms, in this year of double jubilee, the pivotal role played by Morocco at the crossroads of political and financial multilateral agendas, where the Kingdom asserts itself as a voice of reference and a recognized player in international balance. “Peace is not only the foundation of sustainable development, it is a prerequisite,” noting that “without peace, development gains cannot be consolidated, and without development, the conditions for peace remain fragile,” assures Mr. Hilale.
With supporting figures, the PBC President recalled that more than half of the people living in extreme poverty today are in fragile, conflict, or violence-affected contexts, calling on the World Bank Council to maintain close attention to these environments, and praising the ambition of the 21st replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA), focusing on prevention and resilience. Building on the lessons from the recent successful visit of the PBC to the Central African Republic, Mr. Hilale welcomed the significant progress achieved by Bangui, namely the consolidation of security conditions, the constant expansion of state authority throughout the territory, and the resolute commitment to transitional justice, all of which now require reinforced support from the World Bank. Outlining the contours of joint action, the PBC President identified four priority areas to deepen UN-World Bank cooperation in support of Central African national priorities. These include mobilizing increased financing for community reintegration, supporting reforms initiated by Bangui in the security and justice sectors, supporting the Central African journey towards allocation for prevention and resilience (PRA) from the World Bank, and consolidating the quadripartite framework for joint monitoring involving the UN, World Bank, African Development Bank, and the European Union. Mr. Hilale also announced the holding of the First UN Peacebuilding Week in New York from June 22 to 26, mandated by the UN General Assembly, under the theme “Partnership for innovation, inclusion, and impact.”
On this occasion, the Ambassador invited the President of the World Bank Group, Ajay Banga, to participate in this meeting, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the PBC, emphasizing that Mr. Banga’s presence at this pivotal moment “would send a powerful signal about the centrality of the UN-World Bank partnership in the international peace and development agenda.” The interactive debate that followed, involving the executive directors of the World Bank, the PBC Bureau, and the Secretariat, confirmed a common ground: the articulation between peace and development, national ownership as a compass, and financing as a decisive lever. The PBC President, finally, called for giving this partnership its full operational density by proposing four concrete commitments to be implemented promptly: systematic sharing of PBC notes with the World Bank Council, joint preparation of PRA requests, the co-organization of thematic sessions during the June week, and networking between the country configurations of the Commission and the World Bank’s FCV teams.
