October 22, 2004

"Significant and useful" were the adjectives used today in a joint statement to describe the series of encounters held since February 2003 between the World Council of Churches (WCC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB).

Issued at the end of a meeting of the heads of the three organizations, the statement affirms that the encounters allowed them to improve "their mutual understanding of their positions on development and related issues," while identifying "areas of common ground but also differences of view."

"Central to the common ground is the fight against global poverty - particularly the extreme poverty that remains all too prevalent in much of the world," the document states, as well as affirming agreement on "the importance of the UN Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)."

Among the differences of view the statement mentions "development issues such as approaches to development, financial markets, and the impact of globalization, along with economic policy issues such as those relating to macroeconomic stabilization, government budgets, and international trade."

Both commonalities and differences are dealt with in a greater detail in a longer document also released at the meeting (see below).

The statement also points out the commitment of the three organizations "to a continuing dialogue to further increase their understanding of their respective experience and learning, as well as to build stronger alliances where appropriate."

Present at the meeting were: World Bank (WB) president James D. Wolfensohn, International Monetary Fund (IMF) deputy managing director Agustín Carstens, WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia and WCC president from Africa, Agnes Abuom.

The full text of the statement is available at: http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/wcc-wb-imf-jointstatement.html.

The document "Common Ground and Differences of Views" is available at: http://wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/wcc-wb-imf-commonground.html.

World Council of Churches