© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Ajay Banga, Chairman and CEO of Mastercard, attends the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich
2/2
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – France’s development minister said on Thursday she would tell the next World Bank president, Ajay Banga, to maintain the bank’s anti-poverty mission as it moves forward with the next steps by October in its evolution to combat change. climate and other global problems. crisis
Chrysoula Zacharopoulou told Reuters in an interview that she wants Banga, the former chief executive of Mastercard (NYSE), to use an international finance summit in Paris to develop ideas and plans to expand climate finance and tap into private sector funds.
Zacharopoulou, a Greek-born gynecologist and former member of the European Parliament who was appointed France’s Minister of State for Development, Francophonie and International Partnerships 11 months ago, will meet Banga on Friday during World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.
“What I am going to tell him – or what I am going to encourage him – is that he will have our support in his mission to finalize an ambitious reform of the World Bank in Marrakech, using the June summit in Paris as an important step,” he said. Zacharopoulou, referring to the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Morocco in October.
“This is the first. The second thing is that we have to keep fighting extreme poverty,” she said. “That means that the poorest countries and their populations must remain at the center of the agenda of the World Bank and of all of us.”
On June 22-23, France will host the “Summit for a New Global Financial Deal”, which aims to boost crisis financing for vulnerable countries in the Global South.
Zacharopoulou said the conference will focus on ways to create innovative new financial resources for climate change, public health, biodiversity and other public goods and build political momentum for changes beyond an adopted $5 billion annual lending increase. this week by the shareholders of the World Bank.
INVESTMENT RISK REDUCTION
Zacharopoulou said there was a main focus on attracting funds from the private sector to scale up climate finance to the large amounts needed to meet emissions reduction targets.
“Public money has a role to play in reducing the risk of investments in the most vulnerable countries. We can use public money to reduce risk, but the private sector has to come,” he said.
Banga was a “good match” for the World Bank job, with strong experience in private sector administration and finance. As she was born and educated in India, she “knows well the challenges of emerging and developing countries.”
But Banga, who has vowed to deliver more loan resources beyond the initial balance sheet changes, will attend the Paris finance summit just weeks after it is expected to start in early June.
Zacharopoulou said Banga could build on the work of World Bank staff who advanced the bank’s initial reform steps in just six months.
“From this important moment, he has some momentum to put his signature and give his vision,” he said. “I think he will have the entire international community with him.”