Address to the Board of Governors [antikvár]

Welcome to these Annual Meetings. It is an honor to share the platform with Michel Camdessus. In the short time we have worked together, I have learned to respect his judgment, candor, and commitment to the great tasks our institutions jointly face. The International Monetary Fund (imf) and the World Bank have a long history of collaboration on which to build. I am confident our productive relationship will intensify in the years ahead. My purpose today is to outline the Bank's strategy for steady advance toward restored global economic growth, for steady progress in the fight against poverty. I offer neither instant nor easy remedies for today's grave problems. There are no such shortcuts. These twin objectives demand concerted, patient, and imaginative international action that will strengthen and build upon the unique relationship of cooperation and trust between the Bank and our borrowers. Drawing on the lessons and capitalizing on the successes of the past, a renewed World Bank is ready with an agenda for the future, a realistic vision of the pressing challenges to development and of the rewards that increased and determined effort can win. The Bank's reorganization is now completed. This change in structure was long overdue, but no undertaking of this magnitude could be accomplished without some pain. And so on this occasion I want to pay special tribute to Bank staff for the extraordinary dedication and professionalism they have shown during the difficulties of recent months. The staff has long been an outstanding collection of well-motivated and highly skilled individuals. Looking ahead, I am confident that we have greatly improved our institutional ability to provide sensitive, effective, and timely support to each of our borrowers and to offer intellectual leadership in the understanding of development. The Present Situation As we discuss the Bank's role in the future, let us look first at our present situation. I am fundamentally an optimist, but I recognize that we meet in threatening times. I need not catalog all the ups and downs of the world economy for this group; a few illustrations will suffice.