Nusa Dua, Bali, January 28, 2008 – World Bank Managing Director Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says that all delegations in the UN Convention for Anti-Corruption in Bali should have but one goal in mind – to take collective action against corruption. In her speech at the opening plenary, Dr. Ngozi reminded delegates that thus far, the fight against corruption has focused too much on developing countries. These victim-states, she says, are “named and shamed” and forced to comply with developed world’s standards for transparency, accountability and good governance. However, what it often overlooked is the fact that “corruption in developing countries is also the result of an enabling and permissive global environment”. The former Nigerian Finance Minister says, “All countries are responsible for this environment, particularly those with greater economic and political leverage.”

In addressing the need to balance the burden of responsibilities in the fight against corruption, the World Bank has designed a new Governance and Anti-Corruption Strategy (GAC). One of the main pillars of this strategy is to help set regional and global standards in tackling the transnational aspects of corruption. As part of this pillar, the World Bank and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime have launched the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) which not only helps build the capacity of developing countries to retrieve their stolen assets, but also helps lower the barriers to asset recovery in developed countries.

To compliment the efforts undertaken through the GAC strategy, Dr. Ngozi reminds that all stakeholders – governments, private sector, civil society, international media and international organizations – need to live up to their commitments to fight corruption. A key step that needs to be taken in this regard is ratifying the UN Convention on Anti-Corruption (UNCAC). Dr. Ngozi notes that only 15 of the 54 jurisdictions classified by the IMF as offshore financial centers are parties to UNCAC. To this end, Dr. Ngozi hopes the Bali Conference could send a strong signal to governments and influence the formation of a third-party review mechanism – one that can ensure that countries turn rhetoric into reality and ultimately, results.

It is estimated that developing countries lose US$ 20-40 billion each year through corruption and money laundering. Every US$ 100 million of stolen assets returned to a developing country could fund immunization for 4 million children, water connections for 250,000 households and malaria-treatment for 50-100 million people.

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is presently a Managing Director of the World Bank. From June to August 2006, she was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria, overseeing Nigeria’s External Relations. From July 2003 to June 2006 she served as Minister of Finance and Economy of Nigeria and Head of Nigeria's much acclaimed Presidential Economic team responsible for implementing a comprehensive home grown economic reform program that stabilized the macro-economy and tripled the growth rate to an average 6 percent per annum over 3 years. Her achievements as Finance Minister garnered international recognition for improving Nigeria’s financial stability and fostering greater fiscal transparency to combat corruption. In October 2005, she led the Nigerian team that negotiated the cancellation of US $18 billion or 60 percent of Nigeria’s external debt with the Paris Club. The debt deal also included an innovative buy-back mechanism that wiped out Nigeria’s Paris club debt and reduced the country’s external indebtedness from US$35 to US$5 billion. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala oversaw Nigeria’s first ever Sovereign credit rating of BB- from Fitch and Standard and Poor’s—a rating that grouped Nigeria with other emerging market countries such as Brazil, Vietnam, Venezuela, and Philippines.

Previously, she pursued a 21-year career as a development economist at the World Bank, where she held the post of Vice President and Corporate Secretary. This included two tours of duty (six years) working in the East Asia Region, the last tour (1997-2000) as Country Director Malaysia, Mongolia, Laos and Cambodia during the East Asian financial crisis; two duty tours in the Middle East Region, the last (2000-2003) as Director, Operations (deputy vice-president) of the region. Dr Okonjo-Iweala also served as Director of Institutional Change and Strategy (1995-1997). In this post she assisted with the implementation of the Bank’s reform agenda. From 1989 to 1991 she was Special assistant to the Senior Vice President, Operations, an assignment that enabled participation in high level policy formulation and discussions for countries as diverse as China and Burkina Faso.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Harvard and has a PhD in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is fluent in French, Ibo and English with working knowledge of Yoruba. She has received numerous awards, including Honorary Doctorate of Letters from University of Dublin, Trinity College, 2007, Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Colby College, 2007 and Brown University, 2006, Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica, 2005, Time Magazine’s European Hero of the Year Award, 2004, for her work on economic reform in Nigeria, Euromoney Magazine Global Finance Minister of the year, 2005, Financial Times/The Banker African Finance Minister of the year 2005, This Day (Nigeria’s premier newspaper) Minister of the Year award 2004 and 2005.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is a member or chair of numerous boards and advisory groups, including DATA, the World Resources Institute, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Nelson Mandela Institution, Friends of the Global Fund Africa, and the African Institute of Science and Technology. She has served as adviser to several international investment groups working in emerging markets and lectured on Africa and development all over the world. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was the founder of the first ever indigenous opinion research organization in Nigeria (NOI Polls) in partnership with the Gallup organization, which strives to strengthen democracy and accountability in Nigeria. She was co-founder of the Makeda Fund, a US$50 million private equity fund designed to invest in women-owned and women-influenced small and medium enterprises in Africa.

She is married to surgeon Dr. Ikemba Iweala and they have four children.