§ John BarrettTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress is being made to increase the number of executive directors representing southern governments on the Board of the World bank. [80935]
192W
§ John HealeyThe UK's White Paper on International Development, published in December 2000, highlighted the need for developing countries to have a more effective voice in international institutions. And at the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World bank, the Development Committee called on these institutions to prepare a joint paper on broadening and strengthening the participation of developing countries in International Financial Institution decision making for the spring meetings in April 2003. It is within the context of this broader discussion on increasing the voice of developing countries that we expect representation on the Executive Board to feature. The UK would welcome positive consideration of ways to increase the representation of developing countries on the Executive Board, and African countries in particular. We will be working with the IMF and World bank over the coming months to explore this further.