OPEC FUND-WORLD BANK KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE WORKSHOP
Results-based financing, artificial intelligence and the drive for efficiency as new challenges for the development community
A t a time when the impacts of geopolitical shifts threaten developmental progress, it is especially important for institutions working in that arena to keep learning from each other to address short and long-term challenges. For two days in September, the OPEC Fund
Legal Services kept that conversation going with members of the World Bank legal team, along with members from the Public Sector and Strategy Departments. General Counsel Omar Dajani said: “Together, we have worked across numerous countries, sectors and projects in pursuit of our shared objective of promoting sustainable development and reducing poverty.”
“We know AI is here to stay and if you do not have access to it, then ultimately you will be left behind.”
Julie Rieger, Chief Counsel for Europe and Central Asia, Legal Vice Presidency, World Bank
The workshop covered several topics relevant to the current development environment, such as addressing challenges and strategies for operations in middle-income countries, dealing with de facto governments, strengthening co-financing and reliance frameworks, and working with legal tech tools such as DocuSign and AI. The World Bank delegation was led by Julie Rieger, Chief Counsel for Europe and Central Asia in the Legal Vice Presidency. She said about the role of legal teams in results-based financing: “We advise on the structuring of, among other things, disbursement- linked indicators and results and help project teams put frameworks together in specific operations. We help teams make the documentation as clear as possible so that results are very clear and verifiable.”
She strongly endorsed the effort to make the work of development agencies more efficient through moving from project financing to systems thinking. “A big agenda item for the World Bank is job creation. And for that to really take off all systems have to function and we need a really holistic approach. A topical example is the digitalization agenda where creating the right infrastructure has become an indispensable condition for development, similar to access to energy.” Touching upon artificial intelligence, Ms. Rieger said: “We know AI is here to
stay and if you do not have access to it, then ultimately you will be left behind. So it is a development challenge.” Echoing OPEC Fund General Counsel Dajani’s remarks about the value of the long-standing partnership between the two institutions, the World Bank’s Ms. Rieger gave an example: “The reality of our everyday work is that if you are working on a project as a lawyer that has co-financing from another partner and you know the person on the other end, it’s just so much easier to reach out and say, why are we stuck here and resolve any issues.”
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