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During the past year, the international community sharpened its focus on aid
effectiveness, donor coordination, environmental sustainability, and progress
toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The Monterrey
conference on development financing, and the Johannesburg summit on sustainable
development underlined the global commitment toward reducing the crippling
poverty that is a daily fact of life for more than one billion people living on
less than $1 a day.
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For the World Bank, this has translated into a special focus on specific action
in four priority sectors that are key to meeting the MDGs: Education for All;
HIV/AIDS; water and sanitation; and health. World Bank loan and grant approvals
for education reached a record $2.3 billion in the past fiscal year. Approvals
for health and social services projects totaled $3.4 billion, while loans for
water, sanitation and flood prevention projects reached $1.4 billion, compared
with $546 million in the previous fiscal year.
Letter of Transmittal
This Annual Report, which covers the period from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003, has been prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development
Association (IDA) in accordance with the respective by-laws of the two institutions. James
D. Wolfensohn, President of the IBRD and IDA, and Chairman of the Board of
Executive Directors, has submitted this report, together with the accompanying
administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of
Governors.
Annual reports for the International Finance Corporation, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes are published separately.
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