LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Distorted view of bank's reform agenda
Financial Times, Sep 5, 2001
By SHENGMAN ZHANG
>From Mr Shengman Zhang.
Sir, Stephen Fidler ("A world of complaint", August 28) presented a
distorted view of the reform
agenda at the World Bank.
Nowhere did he mention that under the leadership of James Wolfensohn the
World Bank has seen
project quality and effectiveness rise to record levels; that overall
client satisfaction has improved; that
shareholders have expressed strong support for the bank's strategic
directions and for the
Comprehensive Development Framework, including unanimously approving a
budget increase; or that
anti-corruption is now on the bank's agenda for the first time.
Nor did he give more than passing reference to the fact that Jim
Wolfensohn and Michel Camdessus
introduced the first international response to provide comprehensive
debt relief to the world's poorest,
most indebted countries, or that as a result of that initiative today 23
countries are receiving debt relief
of Dollars 34bn over time - something believed far from possible even
six years ago. These are hardly
small oversights.
Instead, Mr Fidler preferred to criticise Mr Wolfensohn for listening to
advice and critics outside the
bank, learning from the past and broadening the Bank's traditional
economic approach. Whether we go
forward with a modern, comprehensive approach to development or whether
we go back to the
economics of the 1980s is a debate we do not fear. Sadly, this article,
with its one-sided view, offers
no guidance to the interested reader.
Shengman Zhang, Secretary of the Management Committee, World Bank
Full article at:
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/articles.html?print=true&id=01
0905001459
Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
