66022 Tuvalu: Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) FY2012-2015 Meeting of Executive Directors December 13, 2011 Chair's Summing Up The Executive Directors discussed the first IDA Country Assistance Strategy for Tuvalu covering the period FY2012-2015 (IDA/R2011-0313). Directors expressed support for the CAS and its alignment with the Government’s national development strategy. They expressed support for the CAS’s overarching goals of encouraging regional and global integration, and building the country's resilience against exogenous shocks. They acknowledged efforts made to address the particularities of the country context through a flexible, adaptive, and selectively designed CAS. Directors commended the Tuvaluan authorities for the sustained progress made in important indicators of human development, including key Millennium Development Goals. However, Directors underscored the need for the government to strengthen fiscal management and undertake urgent fiscal adjustments. Moreover, they expressed concern at the increasing incidence of poverty in the wake of the global financial slowdown. Attention to gender and climate change issues were also highlighted. Directors emphasized the continued focus on addressing climate change mitigation and adaption. They also recognized the critical nature of aid coordination in an economy of Tuvalu's size and the severe limitations in institutional capacity.  This summary is not an approved record.