Study Visit of Young Professionals of the Dutch Ministry of Finance

On their study visit to Slovenia, a group of 30 young employees of the Dutch Ministry of Finance also visited the CEF.  The group just returned from Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the Dutch constituency countries in IMF, the World Bank and EBRD.  In Slovenia, they learned about our financial system and institutions, macroeconomic outlook and measures to offset the economic downturn.

On June 4, the group spent the afternoon at the CEF where they also met their Slovenian counterparts from the Ministry of Finance. They learned about the Slovenian budget cycle process and implementation of EU budgetary rules from Saša Jazbec, Director General for Budget and her colleagues that also presented state of affairs in privatization and financial market rules.  Slovenian tax administration shared with them challenges and sucesses in fighting tax fraud.

Quite a few of the young Dutch professionals already knew about the CEF, its role and the longstanding relationship with the Dutch Finance ministry. For years, the Dutch have been one of the CEF’s most significant donors and partners. Many experts from the Dutch Ministry of finance have been sharing their knowledge and experiences in budgeting, auditing, taxation and other topics with the officials from South East Europe attending CEF’s learning events.  Seven CEF member countries are also members of the Dutch constituency which adds value and supports aligning of donor assistance to those countries.

At the end, the group met Dirk Jan Kraan who is a former employee of their ministry currently holding the position of IMF Public Financial Management Advisor for South East Europe that is hosted by the CEF. Mr. Kraan explained how the IMF is tackling the issues of public financial management through a combination of technical assistance and learning.