Transcript of proceedings, National Geographic / World Bank Special Presentation on Africa, Washington

September 8, 2005

Mr Wolfowitz: Welcome, everyone. I’m delighted that we have such a big turnout. It’s appropriate for the occasion. I guess we have an overflow. I hope the people in the
overflow rooms can hear adequately.

I am very pleased that we can share the stage today with our friends from National Geographic. National Geographic is a global institution that has become a symbol for scientific feats, discovery and education.

For more than a century National Geographic has played a unique role in broadening our knowledge of the world, and they continue with this new issue today.

I would like to congratulate the editorial team of National Geographic for this special issue on Africa. I know their commitment to Africa goes back many years. Mike Fay, who you’ll be hearing from shortly, has seen the continent from every angle, on foot and by air, and by other means of transportation.

This Africa issue, led by Chris Johns, who couldn’t join us, and Oliver Payne, who will, features Mike Fay’s photographic journey, and it’s atestament to the tremendous energy of Africa.

I’m also pleased that the World Bank was able to partner with National Geographic to produce a full-color wall map to raise awareness of the Millennium Development Goals and to highlight each country’s progress.

This partnership involved a lot of hard work and creativity from the Bank, who provided the data and text, and from National Geographic Maps, who provided the cartographic and design expertise.

I would like to personally thank Alan Carroll, our chief cartographer, who is with us, and Chris Neal, who made a major contribution.

Awareness is critical to achieving results. We often hear about an Africa that is ravaged by poverty, disease and conflict. News headlines and footage transmit images of starving women and children in Niger.

They report on violence and suffering in Sudan’s Darfur region. They cite alarming statistics about the human toll of HIV/AIDS and malaria.

I was particularly moved by personal stories on this issue of Africans living with HIV/AIDS. In their own words they share with us the pain of discovering that they have the virus, their fear of leaving their children, and their hope for surviving with treatment. It allows us to see, if only for a moment, the real human tragedy behind the numbers.

But there’s another part of the story that we hear about all too rarely. To borrow the words from this cover issue, “Whatever you think about Africa, think again.” There is another face to Africa, one of hope, ambition, energy, intelligence and achievement. That face is also captured compellingly in this issue. I was struck by the optimism in Jared Diamond’s essay about the future of Africa with its rich geography and history. It’s an optimism that I share, and which was reinforced for me by a visit to four African countries in June in my first weeks as President of this great institution.

I met with heads of state, government officials, civil society organizations, women activists, students, and I saw firsthand their taking ownership of their country’s future. I came back with a conviction that Africa can become, indeed I hope is becoming a
continent of hope.

Today the subcontinent stands at a crossroads. Its current history speaks of poverty and suffering, but its future holds rich opportunities. To seize these opportunities, there are many challenges that have to be overcome.

Let me first illustrate the sheer magnitude of those challenges. Africa has the largest share of poor people in the world. In the last five years the number of Africans living on less than a dollar a day, extreme poverty, has nearly doubled from 164 million to 314 million, half the population of sub-Saharan Africa. Economic growth during that
period averaged 3 percent, but it was obviously far short of what is needed to reduce poverty. Without faster progress the number of poor people in Africa is expected to rise even further.

Five years ago, world leaders had clear targets to reduce poverty by half and to improve economic and social conditions in developing countries. Both rich and poor countries pledge to do their part in achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Rich countries promise debt relief and an increase in aid in exchange for policies and
governance that use aid effectively in poor countries.

For Africa these MDGs pose a daunting task. To keep the number of poor from rising will alone take a growth rate of some 5 percent. To meet the larger target of halving poverty by 2015, growth will have to accelerate to 7 percent. That is more than double the region’s growth rate today.

Given the enormous scale of this challenge, we need to come to terms with what we can and cannot achieve with the MDGs. We know today that many countries will not meet the MDGs, at least not on the schedule originally hoped for. We also know that there are many countries that are on track or could get on track with increased effort. We need to
focus our efforts where it can make a difference, and in those cases where meeting the MDGs may take longer, we must set realistic intermediate goals rather than abandon the effort.

Two days ago the Board of this institution discussed an Africa action plan designed to help African countries accelerate growth and achieve tangible results in fighting poverty. The plan sets forth 25 specific initiatives to be led by African countries during the next three years.

It also sets clear financing commitments for free primary But economic growth must go hand in hand with growth of institutional and governance capacity if we want sustainable results. I am pleased to see – and this is a major reason for hopefulness that there’s real progress on this front – countries once torn by conflict like Uganda, Rwanda and
Mozambique, have made enormous strides in securing peace. A new leadership is emerging in Africa that is increasingly open to change and committed to attacking deep-seated problems of corruption and accountability.

More and more Africans across the continent are casting their votes and holding their leaders accountable for jobs, education, health care and a better future, and their leaders are listening and stepping down when they’re voted out of office. We cannot underestimate the importance of voice and participation in Africa’s development process. The evidence is compelling. The experience of countries worldwide shows that civil
liberties, the respect for a citizen’s voice and equality, are crucial to fighting corruption and sustaining development.

We are seeing that women in particular have an important role to play. Statistics show that in countries where women enjoy more rights, there is less corruption. In countries where women are in political office and in the job market, there is less corruption.

Let me say a few words about this important disease called “corruption.” Controlling corruption is critical for sustainable development. It is in fact one of the points highlighted to the recent summit of the G-8 countries in the Africa Commission Report that was commissioned by Prime Minister Blair, that reforms will have limited
impact if corruption is not reduced. Whether it exists in the government, in the private sector or in aid projects, corruption drains resources and discourages investments. It benefits the privileged and deprives the poor. It threatens prospects for a better quality of life and a promising future. It is indeed, as Jim Wolfensohn said, a cancer.

So it is gratifying that more attention is being paid to good governance and corruption, and that there’s a refreshing willingness to address this painful problem openly.

I was encouraged to see it was on the minds of African Ministers I met here in Washington during meetings of the World Bank shareholders this spring. They expressed a strong common concern about the need to address corruption in their countries and to stay the course to progress and growth.

At the World Bank we are working with countries that request our help to strengthen legislation and institutions so they can take charge of combating corruption. But the burden of fighting corruption cannot be placed on the developing countries alone. Rich countries and development organizations also must play their part in supporting
developing countries to step up to this challenge, because after all, though it’s often overlooked, there are at least two parties to every corrupt transaction, and the developed world frequently shares responsibility with the developing world.

For every bribe taker, there’s a bribe giver, and often the bribe givers are individuals or firms from rich countries. Their actions undermine the efforts of poor countries who are fighting corruption and trying to build a better future for their children, and their efforts
undermine the generosity of taxpayers and donors in the rich countries who want to see their resources used for the right purpose. So rich countries too have a moral responsibility to help the poor countries reclaim their future. This included recovering stolen assets from international bank accounts, and I’m happy to report that just
last week the governments of Switzerland and Nigeria reached a landmark agreement that will return to the Nigerian people almost half a billion dollars from a Swiss bank account that was stolen by the former dictator, Abacha. The World Bank will support the government of Nigeria to ensure that these funds will be used as they were intended, to serve the needs of the poor.

We know very well that projects that the World Bank finances are themselves potential targets for corruption, and we are doing something about it. We conduct regular audits and investigate allegations of fraud. An anti-corruption hotline has been set up for firms and individuals, including our own staff, to report bribes or misuses of funds, and we publicly blacklist the firms and individuals that engage in bribery in our projects. In the last fiscal year alone, 350 cases in the last fiscal year were investigated.

Let me conclude with words that president Obasanjo of Nigeria spoke to me when I met with him in June. He said, “Africa is a continent on the move.” And let me add, we all have a stake, not just Africans, in helping it move faster toward progress and achievement. We live in an interdependent world. The 600 million people on this vast continent have hopes and expectations of moving forward with the rest of the
world. At the World Bank we have made a commitment to work to turn this hope into reality. Africa is at the top of our development agenda. In the last 10 years, 15 of the 44 countries in the subcontinent have seen their economies grow 6 percent per year, year after year. That is an extremely hopeful achievement. It gives us a hint of what can be
accomplished if sound economic policies are put in place, if aid is used effectively, and if the efforts are sustained over time.

But Africa and the rest of us need to do more to face the great challenges that lie ahead. Africa’s transformation will depend on the commitment of the international community and the resolve of Africa’s people and leaders. It will also depend on a close partnership led by Africans and supported by the rich countries and the multilateral institutions. We are driven today by the urgent need to achieve results and create opportunities for the men, women and youth of Africa, to show the world the face of Africa that is marked with hope and optimism.

For the full transcript, please see: web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20640293~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html [PDFver here]