September 20, 2006	Wednesday	Sha'aban 26, 1427

SINGAPORE, Sept 19: The IMF/World Bank governors on Tuesday renewed their commitment to multilateralism: to find shared solutions to shared problems. They reiterated to give continued attention to millennium development goals. They also reaffirmed the principle of mutual accountability of all countries and development institutions.

The IMF/World Bank Group board of governors’ joint annual discussion opened on Tuesday here at the convention centre attended by official delegations of member countries and observers from several specialised multilateral forums.

"Let us not miss the historical opportunity," Paul Wolfwitz, President of the World Bank, called on member countries, referring to broad-based global growth.

"From Mexico to Mongolia to Malawi, there are millions of poor people who, when given opportunity, will work hard to escape poverty. It is not their performance that holds them back, but the condition around them...Our mission is to help pave the way, so that they can take control of their own destiny."

"There is no question that Asia's recovery has been impressive and its prospects are bright. International confidence in the region has risen. Challenges remain, especially to raise the living standards of the poor," Rodrigo de Rato, IMF Managing Director, said in his opening speech in the session. "We cannot forget that 20 per cent of Asia's people are still live in extreme poverty," he reminded the gathering.

Dr Salman Shah in his speech hailed the reform process initiatives approved by the fund. "We welcome the bank's initiatives to build partnerships with MICs in addressing these challenges. We also support mainstreaming sub-national lending, competitive loan pricing and use of country system to broaden bank engagement in developing countries," he said in his speech.

Indian representative, P. Chidambaram, shared with the session of governor of member countries his reservations on the initiatives. "We note the new initiatives to strengthen the bilateral, regional and multilateral surveillance process. We need to remain focussed on fund's area of core competence," the Indian minister said.

On his opposition to the reforms he elaborated his view: "....those voted against the resolution may have lost the vote but have not lost the argument.....we would hold the management of the IMF and the countries that supported the resolution to their promise that the second stage will begin now: that the criteria for a revised formula will be determined and defined; and there will be a second round of ad hoc increase for some more underrepresented countries which we believe included India....the quotas and voting rights will reflect the relative economic strengths of countries in 21st century."

Some 25 ministers addressed the session on Tuesday.