Second Annual Conference of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank

On January 28-29, 2001, the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB) held its second Annual Conference in London. This was a follow-up to the first conference in The Hague in May 2000, at which World Bank President James Wolfensohn was a keynote speaker. The conference was organized by the European Vice Presidency (EURVP) of the Bank together with the steering committee of the PNoWB

The aim of the London conference was twofold: 

1. To pursue the in-depth dialogue between parliamentarians and the World Bank on policy issues engaged in The Hague, where the conference focused on the role of parliamentarians in poverty reduction;
2. To agree on how the parliamentarians' network should be organized and what its activities should be over the next year. 

The meeting lasted one-and-a-half days and included sessions on globalization and governance, Africa, the future of foreign aid, and debt relief, as well as break-out sessions on corruption, trade and development, and representation of European countries in international financial institutions. 

A plenary session was devoted to discuss the organization and activities of the parliamentary network that was followed by an election to designate the nine members of the steering committee who will run the initiative during the next two years.

Parliamentarians were invited from most regions of the world including, for the first time, the United States, Canada, and Japan.  More than 85 parliamentarians from 32 countries took part in the meeting, as well as observers from international parliamentary networks.