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2ND LD: IMF-World Bank panel eyes anticorruption guidelines+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)WASHINGTON, April 23_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING WITH STATEMENT) The joint policy-setting panel of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund called on the World Bank on Sunday to work out a strategy report on governance in developing nations by September to set anticorruption guidelines. "Promoting good governance, including fighting corruption and mutual accountability, are essential to efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," the Development Committee said in a statement. The joint panel is expected to map out anticorruption guidelines based on a World Bank report in September, Japanese officials said. The MDGs, adopted in 2000, target halving extreme poverty, halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015 to help the world's poorest populations. World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is keen about strengthening governance in developing nations. The Development Committee also discussed ways to create a framework to promote investment in development of clean energy and called on the World Bank to review the role of the private sector for further discussion at the next meeting in September. At a summit meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, last July, the Group of Eight major nations asked the World Bank to take the lead in launching the new framework for clean energy and development, including investment and financing. During the semiannual Development Committee meeting, Hiroshi Watanabe, Japan's vice finance minister for international affairs, urged the World Bank to stimulate private investment in clean and efficient energy. Watanabe also called on the World Bank to strengthen its policy dialogue with developing countries on climate change. The panel said it supports the World Bank's efforts to help developing countries secure access to energy, control greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate changes. "We agreed to explore ways to help developing countries enhance their access to affordable, sustainable and reliable modern energy services over the long term, while paying attention to local and global environmental considerations," the statement said. The panel also noted that adaptation to climate changes for poor countries is a critical development issue and affirmed its commitment to the goals of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. In assessing the MDGs, the joint panel noted some progress has been made in reducing poverty on the back of global economic growth. A target of halving the number of people who live under $1 a day by 2015 will be likely achieved thanks to booming economies in Asia, the Japanese officials said. However, the panel also pointed out that the progress is "uneven and insufficient, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and in some regions of middle-income countries." Kiyoshi Kodera, Japan's former deputy vice finance minister for international affairs and called "Mr. Development" for his expertise in the field, made his debut in the Sunday meeting as executive secretary of the Development Committee. |