September 22, 2003
Dubai, United Arab Emirates PROCEEDINGS MR. HAY: Very good morning, everyone, and thanks for coming along to this hastily convened press briefing. When the Development Committee meets in, oh, just over an hour, of course, one of the things they'll be looking at is how we can speed--we, as the Development Committee--development community, rather, can speed up progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals; Education for All being a very, very big part of them. And one of the reasons for convening the panel is to see how, before that crucial meeting of the Development Committee, how we might actually see faster progress towards getting all the world's boys and girls into school. At the moment, 115 million of them have never seen the inside of a classroom. So, without any further ado, let's quickly introduce our panel up here today. On my immediate right, is Oliver Buston from OXFAM, but representing this morning the Global Campaign for Education, based in South Africa, but certainly global in its reach. On his immediate right is Mr. Trevor Manuel, the Finance Minister of South Africa and the Chairman of today's Development Committee meeting. On his right is Agnes van Ardenne. She is the Dutch Development Minister. We're very grateful to have the Minister with us. And on the Minister's right is Jean-Louis Sarbib, who is the Senior Vice President for the World Bank's Human Development Network. Why don't we just quickly go across the table, get a few quick comments from people. Time is very tight this morning, obviously. Let's start off with Oliver Buston. MR. BUSTON: Thanks. Thanks a lot, Phil. And I suppose coming so quickly after Cancun, which is a bit of a failure for developing countries, it's really critical that this Development Committee is more of a success for developing countries. And, in particular, we hope it will be more of a success, in terms of financing for development, and particularly financing for education. Within that context, we feel that the financing of the Fast Track Initiative for Education is really critical. And except for the Netherlands and one or two other countries, the bold reforms that developing countries have made within this initiative have met with a fairly miserly response from rich countries so far. So the Development Committee is critical, and because of that, the Global Campaign for Education has asked me to make a presentation today. The Global Campaign is a network of NGOs, charities, religious organizations, teachers' organizations in over 100 countries. And earlier this year, in order to try to raise awareness about the number of children in the world and adults in the world who have missed out on an education, we tried to break a record, and the record was for the world's largest ever lesson. And when we heard that the record was 27,000, we thought that sounded like quite a lot, so we thought we were being a bit ambitious, but it was confirmed two weeks ago that, in fact, just over two million people took part in this event in 50 countries, from Guinea to Greenland, from Uruguay to U.N. headquarters. And they didn't just sign a petition; they sat down for 30 minutes, and they learned how many kids in the world are out of school, a little bit about what could be done to turn that around. Kofi Annan took part, Presidents took part, Prime Ministers took part, rock stars and sports stars. So I wanted to present you with this CD over here, Mr. Manuel, and it holds a record of the two million people who took part. And we want to give it to you because we want that call for Education for All to be heard, and we want, for each one of those 2 million kids who took part in this lesson, there are 58 million children who don't go to school. And we hope that by giving this to you, we might be able to add a little bit to their voice. We might be able to add a little extra strength to your efforts to fight in their corner, if you will, in the Development Committee today. So let me just run around and present this to you. MR. MANUEL: Thank you. MR. HAY: Minister, I wonder if I can just ask you, then, if you will, to give us a sense of how those voices that are on the CD-ROM and others might be reflected in the course of discussions today in the Development Committee. MR. MANUEL: Thank you very much. Let me start on a point of disagreement with Oliver. I don't think that Cancun was a failure for developing countries. I think that we were able to communicate very strongly that we are a force, that we represent the majority of the world's people, and that there will be no agreement, as I've said before, about us without us. And so it's abundantly clear that on trade, and a series of other issues, the voice of the developing world will be heard more strongly. And I think the issue of voice is important. It arises in the context of the agenda of the Development Committee today, but it must shape the relations within the Bretton Woods Institutions going forward. You need that voice represented to ensure that there can be a refocus on what the Bank and Fund do and the manner in which the world is able to resource key programs, and I think Education for All, as part of the Millennium Development Goals, is clearly a key program. It's more than two years since Monterrey. We are two years--2.5 years, almost--closer to 2015, and the pressure is building up. But as the pressure builds up, we live in a world where we see resources transferred towards other directions. The rich world spends almost $1 trillion now on defense every year and about $350 billion on agricultural subsidies, and I don't think that, together, we can raise $10 billion to boost education. I mean, that is the major contradiction, and that is the voice that must be heard. I think what the signatures do, what the greatest lesson does is to draw attention, very sharply, on the deficiencies. The two million people who participated in that lesson, clearly, take us a great step forward. I hope that we can, even if it's focusing on just 2,000, the 2,000 of the key decisionmakers in the rich world. Let's try and get 30 minutes of their time. Let's try and get a refocus. Let's try and communicate to them how bad defense expenditure is, how bad the expenditures which destroy the environment are. Let's try and demonstrate to them that we're all in this together and that the Millennium Development Goals need to be financed and that campaigns like Education for All have to be there in refocusing the minds of the world's most powerful decisionmakers. But, thanks, this is a great step forward. MR. HAY: Minister, thanks very much, indeed. Let me turn to Minister van Ardenne. The Dutch Government have always been in the forefront of so many of these innovations around new development thinking. Where does the Dutch Government stand this morning in the discussions of the Development Committee in pursuing greater progress towards Education for All? MS. VAN ARDENNE: Thank you very much, and also Oliver for his presentation with the Two Million Voices of the Children. I think it is important that we put much more focus on basic education. And as my colleague, Trevor Manuel, already mentioned on Cancun, on one hand, I agree with him that it could be a step further on that the voices of the poor are much more stronger than ever, but, on the other hand, I think it was also a setback regarding the fact that we tried to get more people out of poverty; that we're trying to improve the world economy; that we're also trying to strengthen the multilateral trade system. But the basics for all of those negotiations, for all of those efforts, is, of course, basic education. And I'm happy to mention that I was also one of the people who kicked off the biggest lesson ever in the Hague with 30,000 children in the Netherlands. We were connected by a video with South Africa, Johannesburg. So it was very exciting for our children to have a lesson worldwide with children in Johannesburg. But coming back to basic education, I think we should stop talking, but we should do the walk, and that's why we decided, in the Netherlands, to speed up our budget for basic education. We decided to improve it for the next coming five years for education in a total amount for 2.5 billion euro, in which 1.9 billion euro will be spent on basic education. You know my budget is 0.8 percent of the GNP on an annual basis, and for that total amount, I will spend 15- percent ODA for basic education, and I will reach that amount in 2007. How are you going to spend it, Minister? That's always the question. First of all, we do have our bilateral programs in more than 15 countries on basic education. Secondly, we do have our nongovernmental organizations who are also involved in basic education, vocational training, and alphabetization. But there's also the Fast Track Initiative, the Education for All, and I think that should be the slogan, "education for all," until 2015. We can get people out of poverty. We can give them more dignity and self-respect whenever we are investing in education for all. It's a slogan, and I also think it's a model. It's a model of the World Bank, and I really support it very much, not only because we are here, but we already did for more than 135 million euro as a first step to participate in this global educational program. Basic education. It's important to give people self-respect. It's important for women, children, men, of course, for human beings, but it's also important for the social and economic development to get more skills for a better future. It's important for women and girls when they can read and write to have access, really access to health care, HIV/AIDS facilities, reproductive health care, et cetera. There are a lot of reports. You can read in it that whenever you can read and write, you feel more healthy, you are more healthy, so why should we not invest much more in basic education. I think the slogan is not so difficult. It's easy and I will try to convince my colleagues within the Development Committee and also outside it to spend much more on basic education. We can achieve the Millennium Development Goals in 2015 only when we are going to invest much more in basic education. MR. HAY: Minister, thanks very much indeed. Jean-Louis Sarbib from the World Bank, and then we'll throw it open to questions if we can squeeze a couple in. I know time is tight. MR. SARBIB: Thank you very much, Phil. Let me begin by associating myself with what both ministers have said, with Mr. Manuel on the importance of having heard very loudly the voice of the South in Cancun and with Minister Van Ardenne to wish for a quick return to the multilateral track for the trade negotiations so that the hope of Cancun, which was that 140 million could be lifted out of poverty, becomes a reality. On education, let me first of all express on behalf of the children, if I can, my gratitude for the very generous contribution that the Netherlands has just announced, and let me hope that this will be an example to those who have not been to date as generous as you've been. So Madam Minister, thank you very much, to you, and to the people of the Netherlands, for this generosity which we have come to expect from your country now. As far as the World Bank is concerned, we are certainly dedicated to all of the Millennium Development Goals and in particular to the one on education, to the one on basic education. If for a goal which is as clear, the benefits of which are as clear, the measurement of progress of which is as clear, we cannot make progress, then it does not bode very well for the other MDGs on other dimensions, which sometimes are even more difficult to define and on which progress is even more difficult to define. So education indeed, basic education indeed, focus on girls' education indeed, but also it's important to remember that an education system is a whole thing, and that as we get more school, more children hopefully in primary school, they will want to go to secondary school, and to have the teachers that can really teach the children properly, we also have to make sure that they are trained, and that means higher education and vocational training. So the additional challenge besides that of basic education is to think about education systems as being holistic, as producing people who can be competitive and find jobs in a very rapidly changing world economy, and the World Bank certainly is dedicated to doing this and the children can count on our support. Over the last three years, we have doubled our lending for primary education, and for the entire education system, our lending has gone up from about 700 million in our fiscal year '00 to 2.3 billion in the last fiscal year that ended on June 30. And you can see the details of what we have done with this money in our Annual Report which has been published yesterday. So, Madam Minister, again, thank you very much, and you can count on the World Bank to really do whatever we can so that we reach this goal as quickly as possible and with the quality of education that the children deserve. Thank you. MR. HAY: Jean-Louis Sarbib, thanks very much. Now the Ministers have to get off to the Development Committee, but let's see if we can stretch it out. A couple of questions. Anyone, quick question? Lady in the second row. QUESTION: Does the new money mean that there's no shortfall anymore in the Fast Track Initiative? MR. SARBIB: I think that the new money is going to help, but the assessment of the Bank is that in order to meet the goals, we need about $4 billion a year. And certainly the announcement by the Minister is going to help us towards that goal, but there is still a shortfall, and I hope that the rededication that Trevor Manuel talked about of the Development Committee to this goal might help us fill the gap. MR. HAY: Any other quick questions before the Ministers go? Charles Hudson (ph), you're looking thoughtful. (Laughter.) MR. HAY: You were thoughtful, but no hand in the air. Okay. MS. VAN ARDENNE: May I add something? MR. HAY: Minister, of course. MS. VAN ARDENNE: I think it is important to mention that we should overcome the gap, of course, in the budget for Education for All, the Fast Track Initiative, but it's much more important that we invest on a long-term basis. I visited the middle American region, and what I heard there is that the countries are willing to accept the program of the Fast Track Initiative, but they are very concerned about the long-term commitment from the Western world because you cannot leave them with all those new schools and well educated teachers to give it to them. We have to invest at least until 2015, and I think that's also an important part of our plea, not only for the short-term, but also for the long term we should be committed for basic education. MR. HAY: Minister, thanks very much indeed. Unless we've got any other questions. MR. MANUEL: I'll just add to that to take us back to where Oliver started. And the reason why Cancun or the Doha Round is important is that we need to level the playing field, we need to stimulate economic development, because the Fast Track Initiative can only assist in kick-starting programs. Assessments of these programs depends on the ability of poor countries to generate economic development on a sustainable basis, and for that we need a fairer trade system, we need market access clearly, and we need a different set of stimuli that will continue to support economic development. Other issues such as fiscal transparency and so on then kick in to ensure that poor countries are spending in the appropriate areas, but without a fairer system of economic management overall, the kick start initiative will be just that, kick start without not much else. Thanks. MR. HAY: Let me just thank all of the panelists up here this morning. I know their time was scarce. Thanks very much indeed for coming, and thanks to all of you for being able to get up at this early hour and come along. Thank you. Bye-bye. (Whereupon, at 8:24 a.m., the briefing was adjourned.) |
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