Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Preparing for Peace and Prosperity: Steps Ahead for the Arab World
    ( 2014-06-03) Kim, Jim Yong
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group discusses measured hope and optimism, to share a vision for a path forward, to a just and sustainable future in the Middle East and North Africa. He talks about a way forward to help not only Syria rebuild, but also to help Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq recover from the massive spillover effects of the war is to be supported by the principles of co-existence, tolerance, compromise, transparency, good governance, and inclusive economic growth. He talks about the need for improvement in quality of education. He talks about development that requiring a commitment to transparency on the part of governments, and well-informed citizens to hold governments accountable. He speaks about helping women overcome the multiple legal and cultural constraints that have kept their labor force participation in the region at 29 percent, the lowest in the world. He talks about the young people here and throughout the Arab world deserve a chance to grow up in a region that is focused on creating jobs, not on conflict—a region focused on inclusive growth, not on growth for just the elite. The region needs to invest in its people with strong education and health systems.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    The Middle East and North Africa: A New Social Contract for Development
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-04-06) Zoellick, Robert B.
    Robert B. Zoellick, President of the World Bank Group, discussed the political firestorm that engulfed Tunisia and the wider Middle East and its lessons for a new social contract for development that goes beyond the region itself. He argued for modernizing multilateralism in the Arab World, reforming international institutions to reflect power shifts in the world. Development economics must be democratized. Investment in the Arab World needs to be more diversified, while the governments increase accountability and reduce corruption and conflict. The new Arab voices are calling for dignity and respect and a series of changes amounting to a new social contract. While the World Bank once steered away from political topics, today our shareholders know that corruption is a drag on economies, strangling opportunity and taxing the poor. Now, anticorruption, gender, and transparency are vital to the practices of the World Bank Group. The upcoming new World Development Report stresses the role of legitimate institutions and governance. Citizen participation matters. Zoellick discussed job creation and safety nets as keys to maintaining development momentum in the region.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Publication
    Lebanon Donors Conference--Paris III
    ( 2007-01-25) Wolfowitz, Paul
    Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, remarked that Lebanon stands at a critical crossroad in the wake of the war in the previous summer. Lebanon now needs to go beyond reconstruction. He reviewed the implementation of the Lebanese Government’s economic and social reform program. The World Bank Group is providing financing support in three areas: first, the unprecedented step of providing grants from World Bank Group income for recovery and reconstruction. Second, the International Finance Corporation will provide 250 to 275 million dollars in financing for Lebanon’s financial and business community, including a guarantee program for small and medium-sized enterprises and a trade finance facility. Third, the Bank extended up to 700 million dollars in IBRD financing to support the implementation of the Government’s program, particularly its efforts to stimulate growth and to meet the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable elements of the population. The Bank is prepared to continue and intensify efforts in assisting the Government to implement its programs, to build institutional capacity, to improve procurement and financial management to undertake sector reforms, with a particular focus on those sectors such as power, which are key to the overall success of the program.The people of Lebanon have called on the world to help revive their economy. We have an opportunity to restore hope and stability that the Lebanese people and their children so deeply deserve.