News Releases

Louis Michel

No. 39/05
April 16, 2005

EU COMMISSIONER LOUIS MICHEL EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE EC AND THE WORLD BANK FOR DEVELOPMENT IN HIS MEETING WITH PAUL WOLFOWITZ

The European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, and the next President of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, had a first exchange of views on development issues. Meeting on Saturday in Washington, Commissioner Michel congratulated Mr. Wolfowitz on his recent nomination and stressed the importance of an increased collaboration between the two institutions. He highlighted Africa's development as a priority for this partnership.

"I think it is crucial for us to work closely together; an honest and constructive cooperation between the European Commission and the World Bank can really make a difference, especially in Africa," said Commissioner Michel. Commissioner Michel expressed his "sincere hope that this excellent collaboration will continue and even deepen further." In their meeting, Paul Wolfowitz and Louis Michel noticed the momentum to push forward the development agenda in Africa and to improve the coordination among the world's major aid donors.

Louis Michel presented to Mr. Wolfowitz the set of proposals on Development approved last Tuesday by the European Commission. These include new intermediate targets to increase Official Development Aid (a minimum of 0.51% as individual target by 2010, 0.17% for the new Member States), a communication on coherence for development in EU's policies and a particular focus on Africa, based on three key multipliers: governance, interconnectivity and trade, equity and access to services.

Commissioner Michel is attending the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings which take place this weekend in Washington. He also participated on Friday (April 15) in a seminar on Africa with the World Bank, where the two institutions agreed to intensify their partnership to boost Africa's progress towards the Millennium Development Goals through a series of concrete realizations in the fields of governance, infrastructures and regional integration.

On Saturday, Commissioner Michel met the current President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, and had an exchange of views with experts on Development from the US Congress and SAIS (Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies). On that occasion, Louis Michel stressed that "the European Union represents around 55% of the world's aid and the US another 25%. So we can make a real difference if we gather around common strategies and objectives. Development must be a priority of the transatlantic agenda in this new momentum in our relationship."