FM' S SPEECH AT THE DEVELOPMENT
COMMITTEE MEETING IN WASHINGTON
The Union Minister
for Finance and Company Affairs, Mr. Jaswant Singh urged the World
Bank to further work for dismantling of trade distorting barriers
in industrialized countries and to strengthen capacities of smaller
developing countries for better trade negotiations. The Minister
was making a statement at the Development Committee Meeting of
the World Bank at Washington yesterday. The Minister stated that
it was critical for developing countries to fully understand trade
dynamics, build capacity to compete and create necessary institutions
and infrastructure to export efficiently. He said the World Bank
can play a very important and effective role in identifying the
crucial constraints and in financing critical investment.
The Minister
welcomed efforts of the Bank towards achieving the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) particularly the efforts for putting
together the Education for All fast-track initiative. He, however,
felt that many countries are in the danger of not meeting a number
of the Goals and suggested that progress in this area should be
reviewed by the Development Committee. The Minister also stated
that the Bank should focus on improving measurement and monitoring
to assess physical achievement through targets particularly in
areas such as infant and maternal mortality rates, increased access
to clean drinking water and reduced incidence of infectious diseases.
The Minister
underlined the need for developing countries to have greater access
to stable and longer term sources of capital flows. He expressed
concern over the delays in delivery of promised debt relief in
some Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) and said that there
is need for greater flexibility in this sector.
The Minister
supported the role played by Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
(PRSPs) in poor countries without national planning traditions
for providing a policy framework for pursuing poverty reduction
measures. He, however, said this must be underpinned by building
capacity and strengthening institutions in key areas such as poverty
diagnostics, statistical systems, public expenditure management
and poverty and social impact assessments at every level. The
Minister also called for harmonizing and simplifying operational
policies and practices to develop common reporting systems and
guidelines for all multilateral and bilateral aid agencies. He
said this would help to create a cost-effective environment where
environmental and social safeguards could also be incorporated.
