STANDING (Left to Right): Erik Bethel, United States (Alternate), Masanori Yoshida, Japan, Werner Gruber, Switzerland, Adrian Fernández, Uruguay, Nathalie Francken, Belgium (Alternate), Kunil Hwang, Korea, Jean-Claude Tchatchouang, Cameroon, Richard Hugh Montgomery, United Kingdom, Jorge Alejandro Chávez Presa, Mexico, Koen Davidse, The Netherlands, Susan Ulbaek, Denmark, Guenther Schoenleitner, Austria, Yingming Yang, China, Roman Marshavin, Russian Federation, Armando Manuel, Angola (Alternate)

SEATED (Left to Right): Juergen Karl Zattler, Germany, Shahid Ashraf Tarar, Pakistan, Aparna Subramani, India, Hesham Alogeel, Saudi Arabia, Anne Kabagambe, Uganda, Merza Hussain Hasan, Kuwait (Dean), Kulaya Tantitemit, Thailand, Patrizio Pagano, Italy, Christine Hogan, Canada, Hervé de Villeroché, France (Co-Dean), Fabio Kanczuk, Brazil

 

Fiscal 2019 saw a change in leadership and notable achievements for the World Bank Group. The Board unanimously selected David Malpass as President for a five-year term, which began on April 9, 2019. We actively engaged with management, and with the President upon his joining, in strategic areas, including implementing the Forward Look vision for the Bank Group and capital package, strengthening the accountability framework of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, making operational adjustments under the IDA18 program, and scaling up transformational projects.

We discussed policy measures and internal reforms to help carry out key deliverables in the Forward Look vision for the Bank Group and the capital package commitments, such as private sector mobilization and organizational and workforce realignments.

We endorsed the Bank Group’s Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience. We also welcomed progress on gender and development, and the Bank Group’s approach to closing the gaps between men and women and between boys and girls. We recognized advances in diversity and inclusion among staff and management and urged continued work internally and with client countries.

We discussed the Bank Group’s leadership role on issues such as debt sustainability, disruptive and transformative technology, human capital development, the future of work, regional integration and trade promotion, and gender equality. We stressed the importance of collaboration in mobilizing finance for development across the Bank Group. We also encouraged advancing partnerships with the private sector, financial institutions, governments, and others on reforms to improve productivity and invest in human capital and infrastructure, which are key to delivering on our twin goals and the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

We continued engaging with management on a number of sectoral priorities related to manufacturing, fintech, education, and capital markets. We also discussed the approach to equity investing, the IDA18 Private Sector Window, and the first IFC report on operations. We initiated discussions on impact investing to help contribute to measurable positive social and environmental impact, alongside a financial return.

We noted IFC’s ambitious approach to develop new and stronger markets for private sector solutions, particularly in IDA countries and fragile and conflict-affected situations. Under the implementation of the IFC 3.0 strategy, we welcomed the renewed focus on upstream engagement and deeper collaboration within the Bank Group and elsewhere, with the ultimate intention to deliver strong developmental results. An important contribution to the focus on development impact is IFC’s use of a project rating system, the Anticipated Impact Measurement and Monitoring (AIMM) system, which has enhanced the Board’s capacity to assess investment projects for their potential to generate positive development results.