10. Speeches of World Bank Presidents [collection under construction]

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Transcript of Conversation with David Malpass and Samantha Power on the Way Forward

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-06-21) Malpass, David ; Power, Samantha

These remarks were delivered by the World Bank Group President David Malpass in conversation with Samantha Power, USAID Administrator on June 21, 2022. They discussed about the impact of overlapping global crises on the poorest and most vulnerable people. The world, as people know, is in a very complicated situation, especially for people in poorer countries and the poor worldwide. It has to do with inflation, with food, with conflict, fragility, issues that we work with every day at the World Bank and USAID does, too. As people know, the World Bank works on an array of development issues and including and especially right now food and fertilizer. We have announced 30 billion dollars of assistance in the food-related areas as part of our response to the current set of crises. And one of the challenges is, in specific country areas, to find the right program. And we work very, very closely with development assistance agencies around the world, including and especially USAID.
Transcript of Conversation with David Malpass and Masood Ahmed on the Way Forward

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-05-26) Malpass, David ; Ahmed, Masood

These remarks were delivered by the World Bank Group President David Malpass in conversation with Masood Ahmed, the President of the Center for Global Development on May 26, 2022. They both discussed on the following topis: (i) respond to the COVID crisis and now to the latest set of crises from Russia's invasion of Ukraine; (ii) the world moves away from the dependence on Russian energy, then new supplies will be vital; (iii) COVID Vaccination; (iv) fighting climate change; (v) global public goods; (vi) climate change action plan; (vii) climate financing; (viii) sustainable debt finance process; (ix) food security and infrastructure development; (x) possible global recession; (xi) education sector; (xii) human capital index; (xiii) the G7 communique; and (xiv) low-income households.
Remarks by World Bank Group President David Malpass at Fragility Forum 2022: Development and Peace in Uncertain Times

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-03-07) Malpass, David

These remarks were delivered by World Bank Group President David Malpass at Fragility Forum 2022, Development and Peace in Uncertain Times on March 7, 2022. He said that there are no words to express the horror of the Ukrainian people, and the World Bank Group is doing everything it can to assist Ukraine and the region. He spoke about the largest refugee flow in Europe since WW2. He explained that they are assessing the consequences and how the WBG can respond, both in eastern Europe and in fragile countries around the world. He was hoping this fragility forum will confront challenges and provide new ideas on how the international community can more effectively help people facing conflict and fragility. He mentioned the following: (i) first, we are living in a world where protracted armed conflict keeps increasing, as we have seen in the Middle East and Africa, where immensely destructive impacts are reversing decades of progress in development; (ii) second, the pandemic has hit societies that are already in turmoil, food systems that are already impacted by climate change, and populations already displaced by conflict; (iii) third, climate change is a threat multiplier, placing major strain on economies and societies, particularly in fragile settings; and (iv) equally worrying are the new acute and destabilizing political crises, including coups d’états, as well as the unfreezing of old conflicts and the emergence of new inter-state wars. He highlighted that the World Bank Group has been active in fragile settings from our very inception and the support to countries affected by fragile, conflict, and violence (FCV) has deepened over the last decade. He spoke about their current FCV strategy provides a basis for differentiating their response at every stage of fragility and conflict as follows: helping prevent or mitigate risks in fragile environments; ensuring that they remain engaged in active crises and conflicts; and working to ensure sustainable recovery in post-crisis transitions. He hopes that the discussions during the Forum will help deepen our understanding of challenges related to fragility and set the concrete actions and priorities for the international community, for governments, and for people working to reverse the alarming trends we are seeing now.
Keynote Remarks by World Bank Group President David Malpass to the European Union-African Union Summit on Peace, Security and Governance

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-02-17) Malpass, David

These keynote remarks were delivered by World Bank Group President David Malpass to the European Union-African Union Summit on Peace, Security and Governance on February 17, 2022. He spoke about the global misallocation of capital leaves developing countries with inadequate capital flows and unable to sufficiently respond to the multitude of challenges they face. He mentioned that the World Bank Group has significantly increased their support for fragile states over the last five years, providing 15.8 billion in FY21 for over thirty fragile and conflict-affected countries, many of them in Africa. He was gravely concerned by the rapid escalation in conflicts in countries such as Burkina Faso and Ethiopia. He said that without good governance, Africa will continue to face underinvestment, insufficient access to electricity and clean water, and regulatory barriers. He highlighted on their operations working toward better outcomes in terms of reduced poverty and higher incomes which means governance that promotes trade facilitation, builds accountability mechanisms, enhances systems for service delivery, and fosters citizen engagement. He declared that the Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment between the EU, UN, and the World Bank helps governments identify their priority needs for recovery, reconstruction, and peacebuilding. He also works with the UN Peacekeeping Missions in Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, and the Central African Republic, where they have been able to provide rapid support once insecure areas are stabilized. He concluded with noting that by 2030, two-thirds of the world’s extremely poor people could be living in fragile countries, and together with their development partners, they must continue to ramp up our efforts to support the world’s poorest and most fragile states in becoming more resilient, peaceful, just, and economically robust.
Address to the U. N. Economic and Social Council

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 1972-10-18) McNamara, Robert S.

Robert S. McNamara, President of the World Bank, reviewed the state of development, and the relationship of economic growth to social equity. First, he summarized recent Bank activities, particularly those which bring the Bank into working relationships with other parts of the U.N. system. Second, he assessed the current state of development in the member countries. Third, he analyzed what he believes to be one of the most critical issues of the entire development process: the relationship of social equity to economic growth. He concluded that the international development community has a grave responsibility to the hundreds of millions of individuals throughout the disadvantaged world for whom these issues are not mere abstractions, but day-to-day realities. He believes, collectively, that touching those lives, and rendering them more livable is possible.
Address to the Board of Governors, September 25, 1972

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 1972-09-25) McNamara, Robert S.

Robert S. McNamara, President of the World Bank, reported on the Bank’s operations in fiscal year 1972 and reviewed the progress of the Five-Year Program for 1969–73. He assessed the current state of development in member countries and outlined the program for the five years 1974–78. He explored the central issue of the relationship of social equity to economic growth. Given the shortfall in official development assistance, the debt problem, and the procrastination of the developed countries in dismantling discriminatory trade barriers, the Second Development Decade’s 6 percent growth target is not going to be met by many nations. The most persistent poverty is that of the low-income strata, roughly the poorest 40 percent of the total population in all development countries—who are trapped in conditions of deprivation. He argues that an urgent task is to reorient development policies to directly attack the poverty of the most deprived 40 percent of the population. Governments must achieve this without abandoning their goals of overall economic growth. Greater priority is needed to establish growth targets in terms of essential humans needs: nutrition, housing, health, literacy and employment, even at the cost of some reduction in the pace of advance in certain narrow and highly privileged sectors whose benefits accrue to the few.