World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will address the press during the World Bank Group/International Monetary Fund 2017 Annual Meetings.
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde speak at the October 13 plenary session of the Annual Meetings in Washington DC.
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim opened this action-oriented Summit with a strong investment case for human capital, which is a critical development priority for the world. A World Bank Annual Meetings Flagship event, the Human Capital Summit provided a platform for world leaders to make commitments and share the actions they are taking to invest in people in their respective countries and/or globally. There is new evidence today that human capital is a clear path to ending extreme poverty and boosting national wealth and economic growth. In fact, the World Bank Group's Human Capital project, announced by President Kim at Columbia University last week is an accelerated effort to encourage investment in people. The Summit today focused specifically on several key themes: the early years, nutrition, universal health coverage (UHC), quality of education, skills and jobs, youth, and women and girls. President Kim was joined by H.E. Paul Kagame, President, Republic of Rwanda; Luis Caputo, Minister ...
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim spoke with Chobani CEO & Tent Foundation Founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, about his mission to rewrite the rules of business to create shared prosperity and help refugees. The session put a spotlight on the issue of forced displacement and the role the private sector can play. He mentioned how little the world of business is involved in tackling the forced displacement issue, adding that the topic of refugees has a branding issue that needs to be fixed. He discussed the need to move beyond typical “corporate social responsibility” programs and use the core business to drive change for refugees. He shared the story of how he first learned about the refugees resettled in the city of Utica in New York state and his efforts to employ refugees – currently a third of the company’s workforce are refugees. Ulukaya also highlighted the need to address income inequality, which he described as "a major issue." Not only ...
During the World Bank IMF Annual Meetings an array of leaders expressed strong support and optimism for the Belt and Road initiative, launched by China’s President Xi Jinping in 2013 and described as the largest infrastructure project in history. The BBC’s Tanya Beckett moderated the discussion which focused on the benefits of the massive, multiyear mission to connect 65 countries across the Eurasian continent through improved infrastructure, lower trade barriers, financial cooperation and improved social cohesion to name some. The benefits of multilateral cooperation through the project was a theme echoed by all panelists. World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said the world needs multilateral approaches like the Belt and Road. He said the initiative has the potential to spur economic growth and urged the need for policy reforms in order for countries to take full advantage of the opportunities presented by the initiative. The Bank Group – including all its institutions – is supporting the Belt and Road Initiative and ...
Civic participation is key to achieving results in development, and the World Bank considers inclusive citizen engagement and institutions to be core tenets of its work. This event, which brings together innovators from civil society and government, will explore the potential use of frontier technologies in citizen engagement and social inclusion to ultimately improve policy-making and service delivery.
The Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice hosted an event on October 12 that focused on the ways technology is affecting how and where goods are made. Panelists at the event included Mary Hallward-Driemeier, Senior Economic Adviser in the Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice at the World Bank Group; Raj Batra, President of Digital Factory at Siemens; Raj Rao, CEO of Ford Smart Mobility; and Li Yong, Director General of UNIDO. Shawn Donnan, World Trade Editor for the Financial Times, moderated the discussion. The panelists agreed that there are opportunities in manufacturing for developing countries. Looking ahead, localization and customization of production will offer openings for growth and employment, as will services, which are increasingly becoming embedded in manufacturing. But in order to create the jobs of tomorrow, developing countries need to focus on policies that build an enabling environment, consisting of the “3 Cs” – connectivity, connectedness, and capabilities. Building human capital is critical for developing countries, particularly if they want to adopt new technologies. ...
Policy makers, global education experts and civil society leader gathered today to shine the spotlight on education and the learning crisis as part of a conversation on concrete actions that countries can take to break the vicious cycle of low investment and poor results in education. The event aimed to mobilize everyone who has a stake in learning so that all children, regardless of where they are born, can realize the promise of education. Farah Mohamed, the CEO of the Malala Fund, who moderated the event and introduced the panel, and said that the good news was that there are many who are concerned about the learning crisis. The World Bank’s CEO Kristalina Georgieva called for a greater focus on education access and quality, because as she noted, schooling is not the same as learning—and millions of children spend several years in school without learning basic reading or math skills. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia’s Minister of Finance, ...
IFC hosted the Supporting Working Parents: Tackling Childcare event at the 2017 WBG-IMF Annual Meetings to draw attention to the growing need for childcare options for working parents. Businesses, economies, and workers and their children all benefit when companies offer childcare options to employees. Nena Stoiljkovic, Vice President of Blended Finance and Partnerships, IFC, highlighted the key findings from the recently released Tackling Childcare: The Business Case for Employer-Supported Childcare report, noting that no country, community, or economy can meet the challenges of the 21st century without addressing the childcare needs of employees. Panelists Ram Kumar Gupta, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, India; Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director, UN Women; Farhan A. Ifram, CEO, MAS Kreeda Al Safi; and Stephen Kramer, President, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, discussed industry best practices and explored new approaches to address childcare. Gillian Tett, U.S. Managing Editor, the Financial Times, moderated the dialogue. The speakers emphasized that if the world were to achieve UN ...
This event looked at how policymakers must go beyond GDP to get the whole picture of the economic health and sustainability of a country. The event kicked off with opening comments by Laura Tuck, Vice President of Sustainable Development at the World Bank. In her brief remarks, she shared details of an upcoming report called “The Changing Wealth of Nations” which will be released in December. This report looks at natural, produced, and human capital in addition to net financial assets in 141 countries over a time span of 20 years. Oxford University Professor Paul Collier gave a keynote address in which he spoke of the “fiction” of flow data and called for a change in how total wealth is estimated. Moderated by the Financial Times Africa Editor, David Pilling, a panel then delved deeper into the issue. The panel comprised Chola Chabala, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Planning in Zambia; David McCauley, VP of the World Wildlife Foundation and Roberta ...
