Contacts:
In Washington: Stevan Jackson (202) 458-5054
Sjackson@worldbank.org; In Guatemala City: Carmen Gadala (502) 2366-2044, Ext 278
Cgadala@worldbank.org GUATEMALA CITY, April 27, 2006 - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz made the following statement upon his arrival in Guatemala. “Buenas tardes. I’m delighted to be in Guatemala. It’s my first visit to this country as President of the World Bank. Guatemala is a country whose opportunities and challenges represent those of Central America and Latin America more generally. I will be traveling to different parts of the country to see first-hand both what Guatemala has accomplished and the challenges that still lie ahead. Tomorrow I will be meeting with President Berger and with other senior government officials to hear more from them about the steps the Government has taken to foster economic growth, promote regional integration, and promote trade, as well as investment in social programs. Over the next three days, I’ll be interested in learning what Guatemala is doing to promote inclusive growth and reduce entrenched inequality, but also what more Guatemala can do and how the World Bank can assist. I will be visiting a number of creative development projects in different communities in Guatemala, designed to encourage transparency in the public sector to increase access to social justice, and increase access to basic health and education. From what I have learned, it seems to me that a mayor problem in this country is a high level of poverty. Poverty is particularly high among indigenous peoples and among other groups that have been left behind, including women. I am particularly interested in programs that directly target the poor, such as Creciendo Bien, which seeks to strengthen maternal and child nutrition, and a program called PRONADE, which is a rural, bilingual, education program that emphasizes the involvement of parents in managing school program. As I have been told, these are programs that might be of benefit to other poor countries. Ten years after the peace accords were signed, I believe Guatemala is striving to create a more inclusive society and to strengthen public institutions, particularly institutions that provide transparency and accountability. I believe that institutions of good governance are essential to development. But also to fight poverty more effectively and prosper, Guatemala has to accelerate economic growth through trade, regional integration and tourism. Two other factors that I’m told are holding down growth are the investment climate, which needs to improve to encourage more investment --not principally foreign investment, but investment for small and medium enterprises here in Guatemala-- and also efforts to raise the level of public revenues so there can be more investment, basic services in health and education, and basic things like water and electricity. Guatemala has a per capita income that puts it officially as a middle income country, but with 54 percent of the population living in poverty, and three quarters of the indigenous population living in poverty, clearly Guatemala has a huge challenge to overcome. That’s a problem that is common to many Latin American countries, and we hope at the World Bank that we can help countries learn from successful experiences in different countries. It is a privilege to partner with Guatemala. Muchas gracias.” - | 
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