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/ 22 September 2008
Heads of state, private-sector leaders and development agencies will this week assess the global fight against poverty.
With more than bn in aid flowing into poor countries every year, donor talks in Ghana this weekend will focus on how to make aid more effective.
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/ 5 February 2008
China took part for the first time recently in World Bank meetings on the needs of some of Africa’s poorest countries in what the Bank sees as an important shift in Beijing’s role. China has a growing presence in Africa and has spent billions of dollars to secure raw materials to fuel galloping Chinese economic growth.
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/ 29 November 2007
Overtaken as the largest funder of global HIV/Aids programmes, the World Bank is now focusing on easing the economic damage inflicted by the syndrome in Africa and finding ways of controlling its spread through better prevention, care and treatment. Global funding for HIV/Aids reached -billion in 2007 compared to ,6-billion available in 2001.
The World Bank on Monday unanimously approved Robert Zoellick as its president after a controversial two-year term by Paul Wolfowitz, who agreed to resign over a promotion scandal involving his companion. Zoellick, former United States deputy secretary of state and trade representative, was the only nominee for the job.
A day after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as World Bank president under an ethics cloud, the United States faced the tough task of healing rifts with Europeans and satisfying calls that his successor be picked on merit, not just nationality. Wolfowitz’s resignation on Thursday followed pressure by European opponents.
Paul Wolfowitz resigned as World Bank president, ending turmoil over his leadership, but the next battle loomed for the United States over how and if it should continue to appoint the head of the institution. Wolfowitz’s resignation on Thursday, forced by his handling of a high-paying promotion for his partner, takes effect on June 30.
Paul Wolfowitz lost his battle to hang on to his job as president of the World Bank on Thursday, announcing his resignation after a bitter international controversy. However, he managed to extract a statement from the bank’s board exonerating him for wrongdoing in engineering a generous pay rise for his partner.
A majority of countries on the World Bank board believe Paul Wolfowitz should resign as president of the World Bank, bank board sources from rich and developing nations said on Friday. ”It is now very clear that a majority of members think Mr Wolfowitz must resign,” said one board source from a developing country.
Senior United States Democrats on Wednesday urged President George Bush to help end the ”historic crisis” over Paul Wolfowitz’s leadership of the World Bank as the bank’s board delayed a decision over his fate until next week. The 24-nation board said it had agreed to delay until Friday the deadline for Wolfowitz to respond to a bank panel report.