Tonga's Ambassador to the United States, HE Tu'a Taumoepeau-Tupou and the Vice President of the World Bank, Mr James Adam signed an agreement on November 23 in Washington DC for the release of USD $9 million budgetary support to Tonga from the World Bank.

The budgetary support is provided in the form of a grant, under the International Development Assistant grant terms, the Tonga government announced in a statement.

The World Bank's Assistance Strategy to Tonga for 2011-2014 was, "in support of strengthening public financial management; strengthening fiscal policy; promoting structural reform; and improving social protection. In addition the support complements other assistance provided by the Bank in the energy, transport, and communication sectors."

It was anticipated that the support would be available to the Tonga government by the end of 2011.

It was also noted that the World Bank had significantly scaled up its engagement in Tonga and other small Pacific Islands states, such as Kiribati and Tuvalu. The bank's Board will meet in December to pass a decision on a USD$27.21 grant for an aviation program for Tonga.

The government statement said that both the government of Tonga and the Bank had indicated their full commitment to a long term relationship to assist the Government of Tonga to implement key aspects of its medium and long term reform initiative.