The main objective of the 2021 TCOP plenary meeting was to provide an opportunity for TCOP members to share operational experiences from the COVID 19 pandemic period, identify lessons learnt and discuss the implications for the further development of the treasury systems and processes. TCOP virtual events organized last calendar year highlighted some valuable operational experiences and innovations from the early months of the pandemic. The event also served the forum to review the results of TCOP activities over the period since the last plenary meeting and develop the COP activity plan for the future years.
The plenary started on June 1, 2021 with a panel discussion on the challenges posed by the pandemic for management of public funds and response to those challenges by the national treasury institutions. The second session of the series was held on June 3, 2021 and was devoted to recent trends in cash management and forecasting and the changes that treasuries of the region introduced to the cash management policies and practices. On June 7, 2021 the participants focused on the transformational role that information technologies play in the times of the pandemic to ensure business continuity of the treasury operations. The last session of the plenary took place on June 9, 2021 andwas devoted to the topical issues of public sector accounting and reporting, including those that emerged in connection to the pandemic environment.
Overall, the meeting was attended by 100+ TCOP participants from 17 PEMPAL countries (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan). International speakers from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and other Europe and Central Asia (ECA) countries also joined the discussion. The meeting was facilitated by the World Bank team.