Statement By Bank President James D. Wolfensohn On The UN Millennium Project Report, “Investing In Development – A Practical Plan To Achieve The Millennium Development Goals”

WASHINGTON, January 17, 2004 — World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn today welcomed the release of the UN Millennium Project Report, “Investing in Development – A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” with the following statement.

“The UN Millennium Project Task Force Report is a major undertaking to support global efforts to achieve the MDGs. We agree with the Report that the MDGs cannot be achieved with ‘business as usual’. The World Bank especially welcomes the Report’s call for increased and more effective aid, openness to trade, and improved governance, all of which the Bank has advocated over many years. We also support its call to build capacity in developing countries, to strengthen national strategies, and to improve private investment climate and scale up investments in infrastructure for economic growth in developing countries. The Report’s appeal—and its urgency—is needed, given the depth of the development challenges in many countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank stands ready to move forward with its UN partners and most importantly, the developing countries themselves, to support broad and accelerated progress toward the MDGs.”