Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman participates in the 108th Meeting of the Development Committee Plenary of the World Bank in Marrakech, Morocco
Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman participated as the Governor of World Bank in the 108th Meeting of the Development Committee Plenary in Marrakech, Morocco, today. The agenda for the meeting was “Ending Poverty on a Liveable Planet – Report to Governors on World Bank Evolution”.
The Union Finance Minister began her intervention by expressing deep condolences to the families of the victims of the earthquake and floods in Morocco and Libya respectively, and said that India stands in solidarity with the people and authorities of Morocco and Libya as they endeavour to recover from the devastating impact of these disasters.
Speaking on the agenda during the session, the Union Finance Minister stated that it is encouraging to see the progress towards G20 countries common goal of creating a ‘Better, Bigger and more Effective’ World Bank to address national and global challenges for maximising developmental impact. “We believe that the direction of the World Bank’s evolution will set the template across the MDB ecosystem,” she added.
Smt. Sitharaman said that India supports the World Bank’s new vision to create a world free of poverty on a liveable planet, its new mission to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a liveable planet that gives World Bank, a formidable mandate to both fight poverty and address global challenges.
The Union Finance Minister encouraged the World Bank to take the lead in aligning the processes and procedures, to the extent possible, with other MDBs – this will significantly benefit client countries who have to deal with multiple MDBs.
Recognising that further work is needed beyond Marrakech to increase the Bank’s capacity to realise our enhanced ambition, Smt. Sitharaman stated:-
- It is important to ensure that the augmented WBG country engagement model is firmly rooted in national development priorities. Also, while engaging in climate action in line with the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities”, we encourage the World Bank to be more ambitious in its commitment to adaptation finance.
- Enabling private capital mobilisation at scale will require an enhanced ‘One World Bank’ approach. At the same time, we must be realistic in our assessment of the potential of private capital mobilisation, given the global economic outlook.
- Appetite for the proposed pilot Global Challenge Programs (GCPs) will depend on strong country demand and ownership, access to new and additional finance, as well as provision of concessional finance, for both Low-Income Countries (LICs) and Middle-Income Countries (MICs).
- We fully agree with the conclusion that significantly more could be done for clients by mobilising new, additional resources for the World Bank – especially by maximising IDA replenishment to address the needs of the poorest countries and general capital increase for IBRD.
The Union Finance Minister concluded by reiterating that today’s challenging times call for a transformational approach to accelerate progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the true spirit of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam or ‘One Earth, One family, One future’.