World Bank Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub will arrive in Malawi on Wednesday for a three-day visit as part of his seven-country visit in Africa.

Communications officer for the bank's local office Zeria Banda told Xinhua on Tuesday that Daboub's visit to Malawi was intended to reinforce the World Bank Group's commitment to support Africa and its interest in working in close collaboration with the region and its people.

"Dr. Daboub will be in Malawi to demonstrate the bank's support for the government, which has resulted in significant macro- economic improvements over the last two years that enabled Malawi to reach the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) completion point," said Banda.

Upon reaching the HIPC completion point about two months ago, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) canceled more than 90 percent of Malawi's debt which totaled to about 2.6 billion U.S. dollars.

Banda said during his Malawi visit, Daboub would visit a rural hospital in the country's central highland district of Dowa, about 30 km from Lilongwe, to appraise himself with Malawi's malaria and HIV/AIDS programs.

She added that the bank's No. 2 man would visit rural farmers just outside Lilongwe, who are participating in the World Bank- funded weather insurance farming program.

Banda said Daboub would also hold discussions with senior government officials, representatives of civil society groups, the private sector and Malawi's bilateral and multilateral development partners.

Daboub, who joined the World Bank Group about four months ago, is responsible for Africa, Middle East and East Asia. Besides Malawi, the managing director will also visit Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique, Senegal, Uganda and Sudan, according to Banda.

The World Bank has loaned Malawi a total of about 2.5 billion dollars since it started providing financial and technical support to the impoverished southern African country 40 years ago.

Source: Xinhua