Bank Partners with NASA and USAID to Bring State-of-the-Art Remote Sensing Technology to Arab Countries

by Sara M. Langston with the blog faculty

Press Release No:2011/MNA/550

“USAID congratulates the World Bank’s Board of Directors in making this important contribution to improving water resource and agricultural management in the MENA region,” said Chris Holmes, USAID’s Global Water Coordinator. “The United States Government, through the State Department, NASA, and USAID, will be working closely with the World Bank to develop and apply remote sensing systems to improve water supply and food production in the MENA region”.

The project is the first under the recently launched Arab World Initiative—a World Bank Group partnership with the countries of the Arab world to foster effective cooperation and collaboration in the interest of economic integration and knowledge sharing. The project is also the first under a recent whole-of-government collaboration that the Memorandum of Understanding, recently signed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick is intended to promote. [Full story]