After the collapse of global trade talks in Cancun, rich countries must pay up on promised aid and poor countries should crack down on corruption to strike a needed balance on development, World Bank president James Wolfensohn said on Friday. He said he was nervous that Cancun and the failure of rich countries to deliver on aid had raised questions about the $16 billion development deal stuck in Monterrey last year. ‘‘We’re coming here at a time when the trade negotiations have had a setback so there’s going to be quite a lot of uncertainty at the meetings between rich and poor about the Monterrey balance,’’ he said. In March last year, heads of state from around the world met in Monterrey for a United Nations Conference on Development Financing. Rich countries promised to boost aid flows. But much of the money has not been forthcoming, in spite of the promises, with initiatives on education and debt relief still waiting for extra cash. ‘‘I know that we need to solve those problems and it’s my hope that we will make progress during the meetings,’’ he said. ‘‘The whole question of delivery is the centre point of discussions.’’ Poor countries have made progress in sticking to their side of the Monterrey deal but many are still facing challenges on democratisation and corruption, he said. But if more money were on offer that would give poor countries an incentive to make progress. ‘‘If countries knew that there was $50 billion available I do not doubt that they would adjust,’’ Wolfensohn said. ‘‘It’s important for people to understand it’s more than fundamentalism and wars,’’ he said. ‘‘One needs to look at this region and the Islamic world in general as being a world that has within it good people and this is a good opportunity to get the broader attention on the Middle East.’’ ‘Global recovery has boosted growth in developing countries DUBAI: GLOBAL economic recovery led by rebound in the US has improved the growth prospects in developing countries like India, World Bank president James Wolfensohn said on Friday. ‘‘Since we met in spring, global recovery has gained momentum led by rebound in the US,’’ he said, adding, this has accelerated world trade growth to 7 per cent improving growth prospects in developing countries. The 7 per cent growth in world trade is significant particularly after its weak performance in the last two years, he added. The recovery has also helped in abating of the downslide risks, he said, adding, ‘‘these developments together with modest gains in non-oil commodity prices and low interest rates combined with falling spreads have boosted the short-term prospects of developing countries.’’ Though the economic prospects are good in the short-term, it remained ‘fragile’ in the long- term because of imbalances and structural problems in rich countries, he said. These imbalances and structural problems could trigger the geo-political shocks, reducing the manuevrebility in macro-economic policies, he said. Wofensohn regretted that progress in tackling global poverty was ‘‘agonisingly slow’’ and said there was need step on the accelerator. It was 18 months since the historic agreement signed on reducing global poverty. Yet there was very little movement forward, he said. (Press Trust of India)
