Third Annual Conference of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank

On May 9-11, 2002 the members of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB) met in Bern, Switzerland for their Third Annual Conference. The meeting took place in the Swiss Parliament to mark the tenth anniversary of Swiss membership in the Bretton Woods institutions. The attendance of 104 Members of Parliament from 42 countries helped to firmly establish the PNoWB as a parliamentary sounding board of the World Bank.

The meeting underscored the important role that Parliamentarians play in international development. President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal made this point during his presentation of the NEPAD initiative. World Bank President James Wolfensohn said that he never visits a country now without seeking permission to meet with its parliamentarians. And WTO Director-General Mike Moore encouraged dialogue with Parliamentarians in order to ensure the transparency, accountability and credibility of multilateral agencies.

In the various sessions of the conference two themes recurred: implementation and governance. The participants of the conference were challenged by Mr. Wolfensohn to focus on implementing the international consensus that emerged from the conferences in Doha and Monterrey and leading up to Johannesburg. He urged Parliamentarians to invest in their relationships with their governments to be able to play an active role in implementing these development initiatives. At the same time, participants discussed the role that Parliamentarians could play to strengthen governance structures in developing countries to create an environment conducive to the success of development policies.