World Bank policymakers met in Washington yesterday to anchor agriculture at the center of their agenda in a major shift aimed at lifting billions of people out of poverty.
New bank president Robert Zoellick has pledged to boost the institution's lending to the farm sector after allowing it to decline in 1980s and 1990s.
Zoellick vows the bank will use an inclusive approach to fight poverty, hunger and disease, and last week unveiled a controversial proposal to allow private-sector business to help finance aid to poor countries.
"There is much more we can do to connect the `bottom billion' to the rest of the world," Zoellick said on Saturday, after attending a meeting of the IMF steering committee.
The twin institutions are holding their annual meetings in Washington through today.
"Inclusive development means greater voice for those most affected by our decisions," said the former US trade chief and Goldman Sachs executive, who took office in July after his predecessor was forced to resign in a favoritism scandal.
Globalization has created opportunities but "has not embraced all," he said. "Too many countries, especially in Africa, are expected to fall short of meeting many of the Millennium Development Goals" of halving the percentage of people living on less than US$1 a day by 2015.
The institution's annual World Development Report, released this week, acknowledged that bank lending to agriculture had declined from 1980 to 2000 but said its support for rural development had begun to pick up four years ago and would increase further. Commitments this year are expected to come to US$3.1 billion.
Nevertheless, while 75 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas "a mere 4.0 percent of official development assistance goes to agriculture in developing countries," the report said.
In sub-Saharan Africa furthermore, public spending on farming amounts to only 4 percent of total government expenditure.
An improvement in a country's GDP that is agriculture-driven is four times more effective in reducing poverty than is GDP growth originating in other sectors, the report said.
"We need to give agriculture more prominence across the board," Zoellick said in presenting the report on Thursday. "At the global level, countries must deliver on vital reforms such as cutting distorting subsidies and opening markets, while civil society groups, especially farmer organizations, need more say."
ActionAid, which is spearheading a campaign against hunger, denounced the report for perpetuating the "same market-led approach, which for the last 25 years has been a massive failure even by its [the bank's] own standards."
The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday said it has deployed its largest vessel and an aircraft to challenge a Chinese research ship operating off northern Batanes near Taiwan, adding that a Chinese coast guard vessel had also moved in. The Philippine operation “disrupted the vessel’s unauthorized marine scientific research and compelled it to leave its loitering position,” said Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson on South China Sea issues. The Philippine Coast Guard said the BRP Teresa Magbanua and an aircraft were deployed to counter the Chinese vessel, which it said had remained about 37 nautical miles northwest of Itbayat Island since Monday. The
RUNWAY: Analysts said the first aircraft landing is expected by the middle of next year, while Chinese state media said it would serve civilian needs Chinese construction of a runway on Antelope Reef (Lingyang Reef, 羚羊礁) in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), is well under way with analysts estimating it could be completed by the middle of next year, strengthening Beijing’s military control over the disputed South China Sea. Satellite images reviewed by Reuters show grading work, piles of gravel and concrete, and compaction cranes in operation to build a full-scale runway that military attaches and security analysts say could be one of China’s most important offshore bases in the region. The images, taken on Friday last week by commercial satellite imagery provider Vantor, also show
SHIFTING COOPERATION: With the new arrangement, US representatives would be able to participate directly in defense discussions, including weapons procurement Taiwan-US military cooperation is deepening, with the Pentagon expected to station personnel at the Ministry of National Defense (MND), sources said. The NT$470 million (US$14.77 million) joint program is scheduled to run from this year through 2028, under which the Pentagon would dispatch representatives from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the Institute for Defense Analyses, a senior military official said on condition of anonymity, adding that one representative from each organization would be stationed at the ministry’s headquarters. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy is one of the US’ bodies responsible for
The Presidential Office today condemned China's transnational repression after an alleged Chinese foreign agent was arrested in California yesterday on suspicion of surveilling President William Lai's (賴清德) son, Lai Ting-yu (賴廷與), the FBI said. The 34-year-old woman, named Wanying Heather Zhang (張婉瑩), was arrested on suspicion of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, US news agency CBS reported. She was apprehended at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday attempting to fly to Shanghai, it said. This represents a “typical case” of China’s transnational repression, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said today. "Our country expresses the strongest condemnation of such barbaric conduct that
RSS