PRAGUE, September 26, 2000 -- World Bank Group President James D. Wolfensohn today called on the international community to put equity and participation at the heart of development.  Speaking to development and finance ministers from around the world, Wolfensohn declared that "our challenge is to make globalization an instrument of opportunity and inclusion - not of fear and insecurity."  Wolfensohn argued that current inequalities threaten global peace. "Something is wrong when the richest 20 percent of the global population receive more than 80 percent of the global income.  Something is wrong when 10 percent of a population receives half the national income  --  as happens in far too many countries today".

Wolfensohn called on high-income countries to increase their development aid, provide the resources for deeper, faster and broader debt relief, and dismantle trade barriers to poor countries