Office of the President

BUCHAREST, May 9, 2013 - World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim met with Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta today on the occasion of Europe Day. After the meeting, Kim made the following remarks (as... Show More + prepared for delivery)Thank you very much to Prime Minister Ponta for our very fruitful discussion.Today is Europe Day, and standing here in Bucharest on this day holds great meaning for me. It’s a privilege to celebrate your country’s achievement of European Union membership in 2007 – just six years ago.I would like to begin by expressing my sincere thanks to Prime Minister Ponta and our Romanian counterparts for the work we do together.For many years, the World Bank has been a strategic adviser to the Government in implementing the important reform agenda in Romania in its efforts to join the EU. Our partnership today is built on sharing knowledge.  While we are sharing knowledge with Romania that we have learned from around the world, we are also learning from Romania’s Show Less -

It’s a pleasure to be here today to discuss the important role of fiscal policy in promoting growth and addressing inequities in developing countries -- as well as helping the World Bank Group achieve... Show More + its core mission of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.  In recent years, we have learned important lessons about how fiscal policy can help reduce poverty and inequality, particularly during times of economic and financial turbulence.  Today, I will focus my remarks on how the Bank is using these lessons to achieve our mandate.  I hope that my remarks will contribute to a robust debate over the course of this important conference.The aspect of fiscal policy that has traditionally received most attention is the need to maintain fiscal sustainability so as to ensure macroeconomic stability. This remains fundamental. An important reason why developing countries showed such resilience during the recent crisis is that they entered it with substantial fis Show Less -

MS. MAKGABO:  Good, good, good.  Good morning, everybody.  Thank you so much for joining us this morning, and I love it when there's standing room only, because it means we're going to have... Show More + a lot of energy and enthusiasm in the room and I know you will make sure you're energetic and enthusiastic, because otherwise you're going to have to deal with me, and that may not be so much fun.So, anyway, good to have you.  My name is Tumi Makgabo.  I am going to be the moderator of this conversation this morning, and I use the word "conversation" quite deliberately, because we not only want the people in the room to be participants in the conversation that I will be having with the President and the Secretary-General, but I also want to make sure that the people who are watching us online on the webcast are also going to be participating.  So, we will have inputs coming from those watching online.  There is a Twitter feed, so people will have their co Show Less -

MS. MAKGABO:  Wow!  So many people in this room.  You look fantastic.First of all, personally I thought that sounded fantastic, and unfortunately, considering the volume in this room, I... Show More + don't think that you guys did enough justice to Sweet Honey.So, ladies and gentlemen, another round of applause, please, for Sweet Honey.  Let me hear it![Applause.]Thank you.  Thank you.  And I'm sure the ladies appreciated that.My name is Tumi Makgabo and anybody who was watching any information about this event before a few hours ago will have known that a gentleman named Jake Tapper was supposed to have been with you today.  But of course, with the very tragic events that happened in Boston, Jake is in Boston covering the event on behalf of CNN.  And I suppose me having been a CNN employee once in my life, it's appropriate that I'm here to fill in for him.And yes, it is‑‑yes, all right, I agree.[Applause.]And yes, of course, it is a very sad circumstance under Show Less -

DR. KIM: Thank you, everybody.Mr. Secretary-General, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to welcome all of you to this important and timely discussion on "Learning for All."I... Show More + also want to acknowledge our global online audience.I am pleased to be leading this important meeting with the Secretary-General in behalf of his Global Education First Initiative, and UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown.  I want to thank both of them for their leadership and tireless commitment to education.We are here today because there is a global learning crisis that requires urgent action.  Learning is one of the most important driving factors for economic growth.  It is at least as vital to fostering a dynamic economy as investing in infrastructure or energy.Countries need a work force that has the skills and competencies necessary to keep farms and factories producing, create jobs, fuel innovation and country competitiveness, and drive inclusive eco Show Less -

JOHN DONNELLY: Hi, everyone.  My name is John Donnelly, I'm the Communications Advisor to Jim Yong Kim, the President of the World Bank Group.Just a couple of ground rules before I turn it over to... Show More + President Kim.  This will be an on-the-record call.  We actually have only about 30 to 35 minutes, so I would ask you to just get to the point quickly in your questions, and Dr. Kim will also get to the point pretty quickly with his answers. We would just like to get as many questions as we possibly can.So, let me turn it over to President Kim and, after his statement, we'll take your questions.DR. KIM: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join this call.  I know that we have people on the call who have strong connections to Boston, as do I, and are thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Boston after the tragedy of yesterday.I'll make a brief statement and I'll be happy to take your questions.Just a couple of weeks ago, I outlined an ambitious Show Less -

DEAN LANCASTER: Dr. Kim has given us a very inspirational and wide-ranging presentation and put a lot of issues on the table.At his request, and with our very strong support, we would like to give students... Show More + a chance to ask any questions or make any comments that you might like.  There is a microphone right here in the middle of the corridor.  Please line up.  We have about 15 minutes or so for questions.And when you do ask a question, please say your name and where you're from.  So...DR. KIM:  Go ahead.QUESTION:  Thank you very much for speaking here today.  My name is Aldon Leclaire [phonetic].  I'm a sophomore at the School of Foreign Service here at Georgetown.  I was wondering if you could talk more specifically about the strategies that development groups like the World Bank can use to combat poverty in countries wracked with conflict or countries under autocratic regimes.How exactly can you combat poverty in countries, say, like North K Show Less -

Within Our Grasp: A World Free of PovertyThank you. It’s always a pleasure to visit a great academic institution, one engaged in preparing the leaders of the future. I’m here today to talk to you about... Show More + the future, about the opportunity to create a world free from the stain of poverty and economic exclusion.My message to you is that such a world is within our reach. But if we are to succeed, we have to make some hard decisions and change the way we work together. To understand the historic opportunity in front of us, and what we must do to transform history, let me begin with some observations on the global development landscape today and the outlook for the medium term. The Global Development Landscape Let me start by noting that the crisis which has gripped the global economy over the last four and a half years does not yet show clear signs of abatement. So many green shoots have sprouted and withered in the last year or two that we should be cautious in assessing the future.  As Show Less -

MODERATOR:  It's a privilege for us to have with us Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the President of the World Bank Group with us here today.Along with him, we have Onno Ruhl the Country Director of the World Bank... Show More + in India.I would request Dr. Kim to share his opening thoughts with us and then we'll take some questions after that. Dr. Kim.DR. KIM:  Thank you very much.  Thank you all for coming.I've had a wonderful trip, my first, as a World Bank Group President, productive discussions with several Indian leaders, notably Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, and also several other Ministers, Health, Education, Transportation and Transport.I also met in Delhi with civil society leaders, private sector representatives, and many young people, all of whom talked about what they see as the critical priorities for India in the years ahead and how the World Bank Group can continue to be a key partner in helping India solv Show Less -

DR. KIM:  Good afternoon, everybody.  It's a great honor to be here visiting Brazil.  I had the privilege yesterday of visiting Salvador and looking at some of the projects and the World... Show More + Bank is very engaged, especially in the northeast of Brazil.  This was a request that President Dilma had made of my predecessor, and the projects there are going extremely well.One project was about the reclamation and the improvement of the living situation of people in Sao Bartolomeu, a very impressive project that not only preserved a critically important park in the middle of the city but also dramatically improved the living situation of many of the poorest in that area through the building of houses and the building of parklands.I also visited a public-private partnership supported by our private sector arm, IFC, which was a wonderful, very sophisticated hospital, hospital suburbia, in Salvador that exclusively treats the poor and it has a catchment area of one million people Show Less -