PNoWB held its Sixth Annual Conference in Helsinki on October 21-23, 2005.

The Conference brought together about 200 members of parliament from 96 countries who used this opportunity to engage with World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy (by video link) and Mary Robinson, Executive Director, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative and former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on pressing development and global issues.   Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also addressed the meeting by direct video link from Jakarta.

During this Year of Development, poverty reduction has dominated the global policymaking agenda as never before.  The Conference titled “Beyond the Year of Development: what Now? “ came four months after the G8 leaders’ summit in Gleneagles, a few weeks after the UN World Summit in New York, and just ahead of the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong, on the Doha Development Agenda.  The outcomes of these summits –aid effectiveness; trade; climate change; Africa and debt relief- topped the agenda in Helsinki.

In addition to Wolfowitz, Lamy, Robinson and President Yudhoyono, speakers included Zackie Achmat, Chairman, Treatment Action Campaign and a leader among South Africa’s HIV/AIDS activists.  Development NGO representatives, several top officials from the World Bank, the IMF, the Asian Development Bank, the UN, and the OECD participated, including Richard Manning, Chair of OECD’s Development Assistance Committee.

The event was hosted and sponsored by the Government of Finland

Event: The Sixth Annual Conference of the PNoWB
Date:  February 21-23, 2005
Venue: Parliament of Finland, Helsinki

Click here to download Question and Answer Session with World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz and Wolfowitz's speech 

Click here to see videos of the conference