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ECOSOC Agenda highlighted at the 2006 Spring
Meetings of the IMF and World Bank
The United
Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will hold its ninth special
high-level meeting with the international financial and trade institutions on
Monday, 24 April 2006. The council has chosen four sub-themes for this year’s
meeting:
-
Implementation of and support
for National Development Strategies, towards the achievement of the
internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs;
-
Fulfilling the development
dimension of the Doha Work Programme: Next steps, including in the area of
“Aid for Trade”;
-
External debt: Implementing
and building on current initiatives to enhance debt sustainability;
-
Supporting the development
efforts of middle-income developing countries"
As part of the
2006 IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, Civil Society Organizations have worked
with the WB and IMF to organize events to bring the ECOSOC agenda to the Spring
Meetings. The events below are open to all accredited CSO representatives
and will be held at the World Bank’s Main Complex Building.
For updates on these events visit the IMF/World Bank Website for the Spring
Meetings.
The Impact of IMF Lending Policies on Long-term Debt Sustainability in
Middle-Income Countries
Thursday, April 20, 2006
MC C1-100
11:00 am-12:30 pm
Sponsors: Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung,
New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
Speaker/Commentators: Frank Fernandez, Securities Industry Association;
Jan Kregel, UN/ DESA; Brad Setser, Roubini Global Economics; Timothy Lane,
International Monetary Fund
Chair:
Frank Schroeder, Friedrich Ebert Foundation NY
As a result of
volatility in private capital inflows and interest rates, middle-income
countries are faced with debt servicing problems. While the resources of the IMF
are insufficient to meet a distressed borrower's full financing needs, some
critics argue that IMF conditionality and its emphasis on external finance in
measuring debt sustainability may create the risk of a country being caught in
an endless spiral of increased borrowing to service rising debt levels. An
additional dimension to the approach of the IMF is not only how it affects the
overall level of debt of developing countries, but also real economic
performance and development objectives.
The session will be
based on ongoing research for a new international debt framework with particular
emphasis on the aspect of crisis prevention.
National Development Strategies and Millennium Development Goals
Thursday, April 20, 2006
MC C1-100
12:45-2:00 pm
A light lunch will be served
Sponsors:
Action Aid International, New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
Speakers/Commentators: Jan Kregel, DESA/UN; Jorge Soeiro, Plan 2025 in
Mozambique (TBC); Rick Rowden, Action Aid International; Vinay Bhargava, World
Bank
Chair:
Jo Marie Griesgraber, New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
One of the Four
topics that the President of ECOSOC has proposed for the Spring Meeting between
ECOSOC and the World Bank, IMF, WTO and UNCTAD as part of the official follow up
process to the International Conference on Financing for Development is to look
at the Coherence between the National Development Strategies approved at the
September 2005 World Summit and the country's ability to reach the Millennium
Development Goals.
The panelists will
discuss what National Development Strategies are, how they differ from other
comprehensive national level approaches (i.e. CAS, PRSP) to development, and how
they are specifically designed to ensure the full implementation of the 8
Millennium Development Goals.
Is the Doha Agenda Moving Away from Development?
Thursday, April 20, 2006
MC C1-100
2:00-4:00 pm
Sponsors:
International Working Group on Trade-Finance Linkages and the Heinrich Boell
Foundation
Speakers:
Chandra Patel, Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations
Initiative; Mariama Williams, International Gender and Trade Network/Institute
for Law and Economics; Tom Palley, Economics for Democratic & Open Societies;
Sandra Polaski, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace;
Discussants:
Richard Newfarmer, World Bank; and Michael Hadjimichael, International Monetary
Fund
Moderator:
Liane Schalatek, Heinrich Boell Foundation
The Doha
Ministerial Declaration (2001) launched a round of negotiations that was going
to place development at its center. Later on, government leaders meeting at the
Monterrey Conference (2002) pledged the Round would address trade as an
instrument to finance development.
In this panel,
civil society representatives will make an assessment of the export-led growth
model underpinning the Round negotiations and the Bank and IMF advocacy and
analysis on trade issues. They will assess the challenges and limitations of
the current negotiations to achieve such results through trying to respond to
the following questions: Is there scope for the Doha negotiations to regain a
development focus? How positive would the so-touted deals and tradeoffs being
sought by April 30 be for development?
Please RSVP to this
session by sending an email to:
rbw@coc.org
A Human Development Approach to Debt Sustainability. An Assessment of
the New Debt Sustainability Framework from the Perspective of Human Development
Friday, April 21, 2006
MC C1-100
10:45 am-12:45 pm
Sponsors:
EED, Afrodad, Latindad, CIDSE, Eurodad and Jubilee USA.
Speakers:
Vitalis Meja, AFRODAD; Aldo Caliari, CIDSE; Peter Lanzet, EED; Damian Ondo Mañe,
IMF Executive Director for Francophone Africa; Developed Country Executive
Director (TBC); Vikram Nehru, World Bank
Moderator:
Gail Hurley, Eurodad
The Debt
Sustainability Framework adopted last year by the Bretton Woods Institutions
represented the culmination of a process to replace the debt relief and debt
management criteria established under the HIPC Initiative, and a review of the
first year of implementation is scheduled for this Spring.
The Framework and
its review come in the context of the Bretton Woods Institutions endorsement of
the MDGs, as well as the Monterrey Consensus commitment that debt sustainability
assessments should take into account financing requirements to fulfill the MDGs.
This panel
discussion will bring together civil society representatives, staff and Board
members of the Bretton Woods Institutions to examine the following questions:
Has the Debt Sustainability Framework been up to the task?; Does it address the
flaws of the HIPC Initiative?; and Does it incorporate the call by civil society
organizations to cancel the debt as an instrument to free resources to fulfill
human development priorities?
Please RSVP for
this session by sending an email to:
rbw@coc.org
The Future of the World Bank in Middle-Income Countries: Eradicating
Poverty. Tackling Maldistribution of Income and Assets
Friday, April 21 2006
MC C1-100
5:30–7:00 pm
Sponsors: Citizens' Network on Essential Services (CNES), Rede
Brasil and New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
Speakers: Smithu Kothari, Intercultural
Resources and Lokayan; Marcus Faro, Rede Brasil; Chris Wangkay, International
NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID); Laszlo Lovei, World Bank
Chair: Nancy Alexander, Citizens Network on Essential Services;
Lending to
middle-income countries has significantly declined and several countries are
repaying their Bank loans ahead of schedule. Some borrowers are apparently
seeking to escape the conditionalities associated with Bank loans. Some
observers see little, if any, role for the World Bank in financing middle income
countries, while others believe that the Bank has a niche in addressing poverty
and inequality in these countries. The Bank's portfolio is increasingly focused
on infrastructure (at the regional and subnational level) and social transfers.
The World Bank
speaker will address the nature and trajectory of World Bank infrastructure
financing. The NGO speakers, each from middle-income countries, will respond
and highlight the record of the Bank in their countries and identify what kind
of future the Bank may have in their countries. The chair will briefly comment
on the implications for democracy of World Bank lending at regional and
subnational levels and make available publications on this and related topics. |
