Contacts:
Gerry Rice (202) 473-1842
grice@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, March 31, 2005 Mr. Alzetta,
Mr. Bossone,
Mr. Deutscher,
Mr. Duquesne,
Mr. Ingolfsson,
Mr. Melkert,
Mr. Scholar,
Mr. Veglio.
Executive Directors and Governors representing European countries have had the opportunity to meet extensively with Paul Wolfowitz over the course of the past 10 days. They viewed these consultations as constructive, and would like to express their appreciation to Mr. Wolfowitz for the open and engaged spirit in which he has approached these discussions. They provided an important opportunity for Mr. Wolfowitz to set out his vision for the World Bank, and for all shareholders to explain to him their strategic priorities, expectations and requirements for the future of the institution and its mission. Mr. Wolfowitz has made clear his unreserved commitment to the Bank's mission of poverty reduction. He has stated that he will build on his predecessor's legacy and maintain the Bank's strategy of promoting economic growth and social development through both its IBRD and IDA financing windows. Based on their discussions with Mr. Wolfowitz they understand that this means the following: The World Bank will remain focused on poverty and achievement of the MDGs as its strategic priority Reaffirmation of the centrality of the Millennium Development Goals and the focus on Africa and low-income countries; Focus on poverty eradication, through economic growth as well as social inclusion and empowerment, as the overarching objective of all Bank operations; Reconfirmation of the IDA-14 Policy Framework to set the priorities for the dialogue with its poorest client countries for the next 3 years.
Maintain the World Bank as the world's leading multilateral global institution for poverty eradication Strengthening of the Bank's unique ability to combine financing with policy advice on a global scale, based on research and global experience - maintenance of the Bank's intellectual leadership; Continued engagement by the Bank, as a global financial institution, in Middle-Income Countries, through a mix of lending and advisory activities, with a view to reducing poverty; Maintenance of the Bank's role in the provision of global public goods in middle-income and poorer countries; Continued support for the Bank as a multilateral forum for the exchange of ideas and multilateral coordination; Continued commitment to protect the environment.
Work in partnership with multilaterals and donors in support of country-led development approaches
Continued recognition that developing countries must lead their own development processes; Further streamlining of conditionality, shift to programmatic finance in the context of a sound policy dialogue and satisfactory fiduciary assessments, and further alignment of Bank processes with the client' s; Emphasis in the Bank's operations on accessibility, cooperation, harmonisation and alignment of multilaterals including the UN system, IMF and WTO, as well as bilateral donors.
Increase resources to tackle poverty, including with new aid delivery mechanisms to complement grants and loans
Support for the doubling of aid overall, for aid to become more predictable; and for a rapid scaling up of aid delivery in countries with adequate absorption capacity; Support for the exploration of new and innovative funding mechanisms, such as the IFF and international taxation; Continued and flexible use of a mix of grants and loans - grounded in objective measurements of long-term debt sustainability - as constructive underpinning of the policy dialogue in IDA client countries; Support for the exploration of, on a case-by-case basis, up to 100% debt relief for HIPC countries, in a way that maintains long term debt sustainability and the financial viability of the Bank.
Maintain the financial viability of the World Bank Continued support for loans and credits as necessary components of the global development architecture, with a view to maintaining the Bank's financial strength; Recognition that IDA's commitment to grants is limited by its effects on its financial sustainability; Recognition that increases in the share of grants require timely financial commitments by shareholders to protect IDA's financial capacity - and the Bank's leadership as a knowledge institution.
Enhance the voice and participation of developing and transition countries in the World Bank Recognition of the broad membership of the Bank, and of the need to ensure adequate voice for developing and transition country members; Improvement of the Bank's client relationship management at the operational level in light of specific administrative capacity deficiencies in the poorest countries.
Sound corporate governance principles for a multilateral institution Importance of applying the spirit of the multilateral principles on which it is founded; Emphasis on single-minded commitment to the World Bank's mission, as framed by IBRD and IDA Articles of Agreement; Importance to ensure a close working relationship between the President and the Board; Support for budget allocations to reflect the Bank's activities; Continued support for the Bank's decentralization initiative; Support for a diverse and high quality staff, with compensation to reflect job requirements; Support for work/life balance and security.
Effective World Bank Group leadership
Support for diversity in the appointment of Bank Managing Directors and the Heads of IFC and MIGA to reflect the full diversity of its shareholder structure, including Europe and the developing world; Importance of the definition of respective portfolios for the Managing Directors, covering the core areas of finance, operations, and policy, strategy & shareholder relations; Importance of transparency and openness in the selection process; Emphasis on the experience of candidates in development policy and finance, and executive management of large organisations.
In conclusion, on this basis and with a shared commitment to continuity in the strategy of the Bank, the Executive Directors representing European countries support Mr. Wolfowitz, and look forward to a close and constructive working relationship with him. They also take this opportunity to thank and salute James Wolfensohn for ten years of outstanding service and leadership of the World Bank. |
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