27 November 2001

World Now More Focused on Poverty Issues, Wolfensohn Says

The events of September 11 focused attention on the fact that poverty in developing countries also affects people in the developed world, World Bank President James Wolfensohn says.

"The globe is now unified. If there was a wall between developed and developing countries, we saw that wall collapse" on September 11, Wolfensohn said at a November 27 launch of a new research institute in Washington devoted to development issues. "What we see is the impact of poverty on all of us."

He said globalization is a new way of looking at poverty as not just an economic issue, but also as a social, religious and cultural issue. "It is an issue of peace," he said.

Wolfensohn said that the world is entering a new period in which developed nations will need to better understand poor countries and their problems.

At the same event Senator Chuck Hagel said that developed countries have paid too little attention to the causes and results of poverty. People who live in poverty have no hope and "become prime targets for terrorists and others who want to use them" for illegal purposes. He said policy makers need to look at the root causes of poverty "and not just gloss over them."

"Failing states are a combustible mix between poverty and political instability," he said. He said policy makers should consider foreign policy, development, trade, energy, and other issues all at the same time instead of making policy in each area "in a vacuum."

Rima Khalaf Hunaidi, United Nations Development Program's regional director for Arab states, also said that September 11 resulted in an increased realization of the importance of attacking the causes of poverty and of how poverty stricken and marginalized people "can fall prey to terrorism." She said that because of the Taliban's treatment of women there is also a heightened awareness of gender issues. And there is an increased understanding of the role of international organizations that work on development, she said.

The new Center for Global Development seeks to:

• Assess the impact on poor people of globalization and of the policies of industrial countries, developing countries and multilateral institutions.

• Help promote policy alternatives that would support more equitable growth and participatory development processes.

• Increase understanding of the need to improve living standards and political and economic governance in developing countries.