World Bank and ICBA, a Future of Collaboration

Dr. Steven Schonberger, Regional Manager for Water and Agriculture for MENA at the World Bank, met with the top management of theInternational Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) on the 15th of January 2014. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss various cooperation opportunities with ICBA in line with the recent developments and new ICBA strategy 2013-2023.

 Dr. Schonberger met with Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, Director General; Dr. Ahmed Al Sharif, Deputy Director General; and Dr. Shoaib Ismail, Director of Research and Innovations at ICBA. The meeting was also attended by Eng. Mourad Choyekh, Senior Water Engineering Specialist at the Islamic Development Bank. 

Commenting on his visit, Dr. Schonberger said “I knew of ICBA from its publications and website and I had a chance to meet with a number of professionals that work at ICBA and I was always impressed by the high level of the technical abilities reflected in the organization. But there is no substitute for seeing the facility as it gives you a sense of who is working there and how people work but also where the institution wants to go. For instance, while visiting ICBA today I had a chance to see the conference and capacity building facilities that are being developed. That is a clear indication of ICBA’s commitment to serve as a regional hub for capacity building and for knowledge exchange. That is a very exciting direction and it is a direction that we would like to find ways to support at the World Bank.”