Athens 2003

PNoWB held its Fourth Annual Conference in Athens, Greece on March 9-10, 2003.

In the context of a looming war over Iraq, 125 parliamentarians and policymakers from 62 countries gathered to tackle no less urgent issues of international poverty; as World Bank President James Wolfensohn noted: “the issues of poverty and social injustice or inequity might be off the front pages of newspapers, but addressing them is the key to lasting peace”.

The Conference featured working sessions and consultations around the Bank’s forthcoming World Development Report on public services for poor communities, its anti-corruption programmes, the International Monetary Fund’s proposal for a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism and other policy initiatives. 

Participants were also able to ask questions, during a question-and-answer session to keynote speakers World Bank President James Wolfensohn and IMF Managing Director Horst Köhler.  Other speakers included former Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Eveline Herfkens, UN Secretary General’s special envoy for the MDGs and US congressman Barney Frank.

PNoWB chairman Bert Koenders, MP Netherlands, chaired President Wolfensohn’s presentation and introduced the PNoWB to new members saying “we’re neither a fan club, nor critics of the Bank. We’re in our role as democratic representatives to advocate for development and create a measure of accountability.”  A new board of Directors was elected at the Athens Conference, including five incumbent and four new members and a sixth Associate Board Members.

The event was hosted and sponsored by the Government of Greece.

Event: The Fourth Annual Conference of the PNoWB
Date:  March 9-10, 2003
Venue: Greek Parliament, Athens