Africa: An Urgent Agenda - Speech delivered at the InterAction Forum

Speech delivered at the InterAction Forum by James D. Wolfensohn, President The World Bank Group, Washington D.C., June 4, 2002


Introduction

I am very grateful for Mary's invitation to join the InterAction community today and speak to you on the occasion of your Annual Forum.

I last joined InterAction for your Forum at the outset of my presidency at the Bank, seeking your guidance, and most importantly your partnership in charting a new path for the World Bank and its development role.

I come to you now in 2002 at a time when I believe we've come a long way down that path. The World Bank today is quite a different institution than it was at that time and I would like to thank you for your role in helping bring about this change.

InterAction members and the Bank are engaged in so many different ways -- in sharing of ideas as we did last Fall after September 11, in policy dialogue, in more formal consultations, and of course InterAction members are actually carrying out Bank-financed programs on the ground.

I am particularly grateful to InterAction for playing such a vital role in three areas:

Building public and political support in the US for development assistance;
Increasing the focus on development effectiveness; and pressing the agenda of accountability