Paul Wolfowitz’s Meeting With International And Independent Chadian Press

Paul Wolfowitz’s Meeting With International And Independent Chadian Press

N’Djamena, Chad

July 20, 2006

Paul Wolfowitz: We decided to come to Chad because the Government is taking an important step in implementing the agreement we reached earlier, by allocating 70% budget to poverty reduction programs. But there is hard work to be done to fully implement agreement. I believe that when this is done it will greatly strengthen the poverty reduction program in Chad. We will see more revenue available for those programs under the previous arrangement. And we will have more engagement by the civil society and a stronger Collège. 

We are very happy to restore a good relationship between the World Bank and Chad and have revived an engagement here which is helpful for all the stakeholders in the country, the Government, and the civil society.    

N’Djamena Bi-Hebdo:Mr. President, in signing the July 13 agreement with the Government, isn’t the World Bank put in doubt because in essence the reasons for which it suspended its relations with Chad still exist?

PW: Not in the least.  I would like to say in the simplest way that under the Law 001, over which we disagreed, the Government had less flexibility over its core budget than it does today. But under the new arrangement, 70% of all of your revenue not only royalties are committed to poverty reduction programs. And progressively as time goes by, fiscal revenues will increase which will significantly increase the overall revenues that go to poverty reduction.

BBC : Stephanie Hancock for the BBC. Given that the Chadian government has already changed its constitution and the way that oil revenues are managed against the express wishes of the World Bank. The World Bank responded by cutting loans temporarily. The Chadian government responded by threatening to cut the pipeline. It now appears that relations are restored.  Can you still trust the Chadian government going forward?

PW: I think this agreement is based on more than just trust. It’s based on common interests. It’s based on recognition that the Government of Chad does have some short term budgetary constraints and they’ve gotten a little extra flexibility with this arrangement, but it’s also based on a commitment of much larger government resources to poverty reduction programs.  I think we take the agreement seriously.  I think we’ve made that clear.  Part of the purpose of my visit here today was also to make it clear that we believe there are very important additional steps that need to be taken to implement this agreement and certainly we will continue from our side to ensure that the commitments that have been made to us—to do everything that we can to ensure that they are respected.  But I think much more important than what we can do—and there are no guarantees in life and certainly not in this kind of arrangement—but the most important assurance that this arrangement will work for the benefit of the people of Chad will be the active engagement  of civil society in the development of the PRSP and also the strengthening of the College, which the Government is committed to doing and we also are committed from our side to provide some of the infrastructure support that the College needs.  A country with the problems that Chad has both on the poverty side and on the security side is going to struggle for some period of time and one has to be realistic about that.  But I think we have a framework here where we can be partners in that struggle and where civil society can increasingly become an active partner as well and I want to be realistic but I am also hopeful that will, over the course of time produce a much better result here.

Le Temps:The latest accord signed by the Government of Chad and the World Bank says that Chad must commit 70% of its revenues to the fight against poverty.  Many Chadians doubt that the Government will use these resources effectively in the fight against poverty. What measures has the World Bank taken to guarantee that this engagement is realized?

PW: I think the most effective means of ensuring how these funds will be spent is to create the greatest transparency.  In Uganda the government decided to publish the transfer of funds to each district for the construction of schools.  The positive effect this had was that the money was spent in a much more visible way when the population was able to insist that the money be used transparently.  For this mechanism to work you need two elements: first you need the publication of the figures by the government , and secondly the insistence by the general population that the government ensures transparency.  My feeling on Chad--I'm not an expert on Chad--is that the Government and Civil Society are able to strengthen there capacity to on the one hand follow the spending and on the other make sure that Civil Society is heard.  It is the kind of capacity, it grows like a plant, you can build according to a timetable.  That's why good governance is part of the fight against poverty.  In Mexico, I saw an internet system through which you could make procurement bids and this system reduced considerably the margin of error of those choosing the contracts, for example.  In Mexico, the advantage of the IT system is a legitimate expense to sustain the fight against corruption.  Maybe it will take a few more years before such a system exists in Chad but I hope it will come soon.

MERCI BEAUCOUP ! THANK YOU.