Iran Blasts World Bank for No Invitation to Anti-Coronavirus Meeting

Iran lashed out at the World Bank for not inviting the country to an initiative by the WB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to coordinate efforts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Iran’s representative in the World Bank Hossein Mir Shojaieyan Hosseini urged the WB to firmly back countries which are affected by coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

He lashed out at the World Bank’s failure to invite the Islamic Republic of Iran for participating in the anti-coronavirus meeting.

“Unfortunately, Islamic Republic of Iran had not been invited to this meeting while containing the disease requires all-out cooperation of countries in the world. Undoubtedly, coronavirus-affected countries expect World Bank to support these countries firmly without any discrimination,” Hosseini said.

His remarks came after World Bank Vice President for Middle East and North Africa Ferid Belhaj in his twitter account revealed the meeting of MENA member states to combat COVID-19 a couple of days ago and emphasized that these countries are supported by the World Bank in the fight against coronavirus.

He went on to say that MENA countries can count on WB’s support in these unprecedented times, he added.

MENA meeting was held last Thursday in order to contain spread of coronavirus in affected countries.

Despite the fact that officials of various countries affirmed the negative impact of US’ sanctions against Iranian nation with regard to fighting coronavirus, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as two important bodies in regulating internal financial system have not supported Iran in fighting COVID2019.