Constance Ikokwu
8 April 2008
Washington, DC — Impact of high food and energy prices, status of the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs) and fragile and post-conflict states, will be the Africa focus of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring meeting, taking place this weekend in Washington, D.C.
The formal meeting, to be convened on April 12 and 13, will take stock of economic progress in the developing world and new challenges posed by recent global turbulence on poor and middle-income countries.
In a press statement, the Bank says its President, Robert B. Zoellick, is expected to build support for a new plan to combat hunger through a combination of emergency aid and long-term efforts to boost agricultural productivity in developing countries. The New Deal for a Global Food Policy is among a suite of initiatives Zoellick outlined in an April 2 speech, to advance development in the face of skyrocketing food and oil prices.
Finance ministers and delegations from the Bank and Fundâ's 185-member countries, may take up issues ranging from Africa development, trade, climate change adaptation, and global financial stability, says the release.
Zoellick has also proposed a plan to encourage sovereign wealth funds to invest one per cent of their US$3 trillion in assets in Africa development and a new approach to help ensure that high energy and commodity prices translate into improvements in the lives of the poor.
The Bank's Global Monitoring Report and World Development Indicators, which focus on progress toward poverty reduction, universal education, gender equity, reducing deaths from hunger, malnutrition, and HIV/AIDS, are expected to be released prior and during the weekend meeting of the 24-member Development Committee.
Several reports will also be released prior to and during the weekend meeting of the body that advises the Bank and Fund on critical development issues and financial resources needed to promote economic development in developing countries.
Finance ministers will also be invited to a Bali breakfast, Sunday, focused on measures to adapt to climate change.
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