World Bank's poverty focus
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September 28, 1999: 1:40 p.m. ET
Agency vows to work with other groups, including UN, on financial security
By Staff Writer M. Corey Goldman
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WASHINGTON (CNNfn) - Working with other international development agencies -- including the United Nations -- to eliminate poverty and establish social and financial security throughout the world will be the principal objective of the World Bank in the new century, bank president James Wolfensohn said Tuesday.
Wolfensohn, addressing representatives of all 182 International Monetary Fund-World Bank member nations at their meeting here, said the World Bank will join the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to build a coalition between itself, governments and the private sector to implement its programs.
"We can only have success in partnership with others in the development community, including civil society and the private sector," said Wolfensohn, who Tuesday was unanimously reappointed to a second term as bank president. "There must be effective performance in utilizing development assistance -- corruption-free and reaching the poor."
His remarks come as the World Bank -- a developmental agency that is often confused with the IMF, a lending agency -- bears criticism for its role in global reform. Aligning itself with other international organization is a way for the bank to guarantee its pre-eminent position in the next century.
Good PR
Indeed, this year's meetings have been an public relations exercise of sorts for both the World Bank and IMF as they try to alter what they perceive as their misunderstood identities.
With crises in Asia, Russia and Latin America in the past two years dominating headlines, both the IMF and World Bank have been dubbed as bailout institutions for countries in financial trouble. They each took the opportunity this year to convey what they see as their true roles -- the IMF as a financial adviser and mediator, and the World Bank as a champion of poorer countries' rights and a fighter of corruption and inequality.
"All these efforts have brought us (to a) time, not for celebration, but for action to move the world economy from its present recovery to a path of high-quality sustainable growth," IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus said.
Some clarification
Officials have had a chance this year to clarify exactly what the roles of the respective organizations are. They've also taken steps to forge better relations with each other; the IMF and World Bank are notoriously competitive when it comes to dealing with global issues.
Smiling, jovial and upbeat are the most appropriate adjectives to describe the ministers and officials who have come to Washington for the joint meeting. Almost all have had something positive to say to participants and journalists about the economic state of their individual economies -- strong growth, low inflation, falling interest rates, rising monetary reserves.
That's in remarkable contrast to a year ago when, in the midst of Brazil's burgeoning debt crisis and Russia's dire economic warnings, a feeling of panic permeated the meetings. Last year, many delegates feared the collapse of the world economy and their respective countries along with it.
Other interests
With no global economic crisis to contend with, the meetings have focused on a host of issues ranging from debt reduction for the world's poorer nations and Japan's surging yen to Asia's rebounding economies and Russia's money laundering woes.
Tuesday's speeches -- from members of all 182 individual member countries -- were meant to convey to delegates the accomplishments of the multitude of committees that make up the IMF and World Bank, and to officially launch agendas for upcoming year.
The remainder of the meetings will focus on ensuring all the promises and agreements go forward. Ministers from various countries will attend IMF closed-door meetings to decide how and when they want to proceed on some of their initiatives.
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