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    Remarks at Opening Press Conference, World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, Washington, DC, April 16, 2015
    ( 2015-04-16) Kim, Jim Yong
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses promoting strong economic growth in developing countries. He speaks about the need to invest in people, especially in education, health and to build social safety nets and protections against both natural disasters and pandemics to ensure that people don't remain trapped in extreme poverty. He talks about the challenges in trying to work in all kinds of complex political situations, so that whatever happens to be going on in the political sphere, we can continue to work to lift people out of poverty and boost shared prosperity. He talks about multilateralism that is always complicated and is always fraught with disagreements. He promises to continue to try to engage with governments to have that impact. He mentioned reports released about the Bank’s resettlement history. The transcript includes the Q&A session.
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    Ending Extreme Poverty by 2030: The Final Push
    ( 2015-04-07) Kim, Jim Yong
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses the twin goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting prosperity among the poorest 40 percent in low and middle-income countries. The strategy is summed up in three words: grow, invest, and insure. He talks about the need to be creative and use all of the resources to leverage much-needed private sector investment to build infrastructure and create jobs. He promises that the World Bank Group will continue to support governments and make investments in a broad variety of areas in the fight against extreme poverty in developing countries. He talks about empowering women through education for mothers to have healthier children, and, when they have financial resources, they’re more likely to invest in the next generation. He talks about the most effective ways to encourage investment in the extreme poor and improve health and educational service delivery, is accountability. He concludes by saying that the governments must be more accountable to citizens, and work to reduce arbitrary treatment at the hands of security forces and the demand for bribes from poor people which will help to minimize the likelihood of violent conflict and eliminate a driver of poverty.
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    Remarks at the International Corruption Hunters Alliance Meeting, Washington, D.C., December 8, 2014
    ( 2014-12-08) Kim, Jim Yong
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses two goals: to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to boost shared prosperity for the bottom 40 percent of the Population. These efforts require us fight against corruption in its many forms. He talks about the need to be alert, respond immediately when things go wrong, learn from the experience, and assure it doesn’t happen again. He cautions about the lack of governance, which is a necessary condition for corruption to thrive. The challenge is to get the knowledge and tools to the right people at the right time, and to fully leverage opportunities for reform. World Bank, with support from Australia, Denmark and Norway, created the International Corruption Hunters Alliance to engage in what is happening at a multilateral level, to provide access to the latest anti-corruption tools and information, and to create the dialogue that drives our collective effort to beat corruption. He concludes by saying that the intersection with corruption and dirty money are undeniable, and the implications for sustainable, inclusive development are clear.
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    Media Q and A at G20 Meeting, Brisbane, Australia, November 14, 2014
    ( 2014-11-14) Kim, Jim Yong
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses setting a clear target for growth. He is pleased with the focus on infrastructure. The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank plus others, together will supply about $100 billion in support for infrastructure. Kim fielded questions about the fight against Ebola, the proposal for a contingency fund to prevent future outbreaks, developing country expectations of the G20 summit, inequality, the Global Infrastructure Facility, and the China-US pact and climate change.
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    Remarks at the Development Committee Press Conference, IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, Washington, D.C., October 11, 2014
    ( 2014-10-11) Kim, Jim Yong ; Lagarde, Christine
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses the problem of global inequality. He speaks about the commitment for building the platform which would bring the expertise of not only the World Bank, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other multilateral development banks, to prepare projects and bridge the gap in what is a market failure. He speaks about the companies that were represented, sovereign wealth funds, the countries that had signed on, including China, which has made very strong commitments to finding a price on carbon for the world. He highlights about the need for some source of funding that will disperse immediately on the occasion of the next epidemic, and the global community needs to come together to decide what the response will be. Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, commended Kim on his efforts in the fight against Ebola. Lagarde noted that much of Africa is growing and creating jobs. The two fielded questions on Ebola, the role of China in these institutions, China’s investment-led growth strategy, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
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    Remarks at Opening Press Conference, IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings, Washington, D.C., October 9, 2014
    ( 2014-10-09) Kim, Jim Yong
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses the need for more trained health workers in the countries most-affected by Ebola, the Global Infrastructure Facility, and fight against cholera in Haiti. The World Bank Group is pledging $50 million to help improve access to safe water and sanitation for all Haitians, aimed at preventing waterborne diseases.
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    Opening Press Conference at the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings, April 10, 2014
    ( 2014-04-10) Kim, Jim Yong
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, notes that the developing countries will have to grow at a pace stronger than any time in the past 20 years to achieve the goal of ending the extreme poverty by 2030. He talks about the need for growth that is inclusive, creates jobs, and assists the poor directly. He calls for ensuring economic growth in the years ahead that is sustainable and takes us off the destructive path of climate change. He focuses on providing the best services possible in countries by keeping a strong presence in country offices and by providing global solutions to local problems. He is optimistic that countries and their partners will take it on, seize this opportunity and erase this stain of extreme poverty from our collective moral conscience once and for all. He fielded questions about China urbanization, Russo-Ukrainian tensions, Ghana’s dependence on the U.S. market, quality versus quantity of development aid, Middle East prospects, World Bank programs in Egypt, poverty in Paraguay, increased fees for advisory services, use of financial intermediaries, and climate change.
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    A Conversation with Al Jazeera’s Ali Velshi and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim
    ( 2014-04-09) Kim, Jim Yong ; Velshi, Ali
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses how the World Bank is focused on a prosperity that is shared by everyone, and to lift the billion or so people living in extreme poverty out of that condition so that they can have those things that everybody in the world seems to want. He speaks about the inequality in the economic growth of the countries around the world. He highlights the health care and education sectors as essential to improving lives in developing countries. He points to the fact that the time is now to think about positive ways of moving in a direction to grow economies and at the same time, increase the participation of everyone. He talks about how the World Bank Group is working very hard now to reduce bureaucratic processes so that people in the countries feel a difference. He speaks about climate change and the challenges involved in tackling it. He concludes by saying that they're looking at every possible way of investing in people, of spurring innovation.
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    Count on Us
    ( 2014-04-01) Kim, Jim Yong
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses fundamental issues in global development and the World Bank Group's role in helping countries and the private sector meet the greatest challenges in development. He speaks about the twin goals, to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to boost shared prosperity. Due to television, everyone knows how everyone else lives. We must not remain voluntarily blind to the impact of economic choices on the poor and vulnerable. He added that we must ensure that our economic progress does not irreparably compromise our children’s future due to climate change. World Bank’s lending capacity – or the amount of loans we can carry on our balance sheet -- will increase by $100 billion dollars in the next decade, to roughly $300 billion dollars. He concludes by saying that all parts of our global society must unite to translate the vision of a more just, sustainable economy into the resolute action. That will be our legacy to the future. Dr. Kim fielded questions.
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    A Dynamic Partnership in New Frontiers – Africa
    ( 2013-12-03) Kim, Jim Yong
    Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, called the country "an exceptional example of an aid recipient turned donor" and urged business leaders to invest in Africa to help millions of Africans emerge from poverty, while also finding strong economic returns in new markets. It used to be that if you wanted to do something around development, the focus was on official development assistance, foreign aid. Korea is one of the countries that benefited tremendously from foreign assistance. The World Bank made many investments in the Republic of Korea and to a great extent some of the greatest successes were related to the relationship between the Republic of Korea and the World Bank Group. For countries to have the same experience that Korea has had--going from one of the poorest countries in the world to now being the 14th largest economy in the world--the private sector will have to play a critically important role.