Your Excellencies,
Mrs Museveni,
Mr Chairman,
Distinguished Governors,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Rome and to the Twenty-Eighth Session of the Governing Council.

Nelson Mandela said earlier this month that "Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. And overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom."

Mr Chairman,

We are deeply fortunate to have with us today leaders who have played a major part in the fight to end poverty: the President and First Lady of Uganda and the Prime Minister of Belgium. President Museveni's leadership has made Uganda one of the most successful countries in the region in reducing poverty. Even more remarkably, Uganda has halted and even reversed its AIDS epidemic. We are also honoured by the presence of Prime Minister Verhofstadt. This underlines his and Belgium 's commitment to ending poverty and hunger and marks the twentieth anniversary of IFAD's Joint Programme with the Belgian Survival Fund.

In adopting the Millennium Declaration, world leaders recognized that the eradication of poverty and hunger was the main challenge for humanity in the years ahead. In the four years since the Millennium Summit (as the Millennium Project report clearly shows), a number of countries are on track to reach the Millennium Development Goals. Yet many others, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa , are not. The report shows that of the world's 1.1 billion extremely poor people, that is to say, those living on less than a dollar a day, 800 million - or a full three quarters of them - live in rural areas. These are the smallholder farmers, fishers, herders, landless and, above all, poor rural women who, tragically, account for a growing majority of the poor.

The key to achieving the MDGs is clear for everyone to see: progress in rural development. Without increased agricultural productivity, production and income, achievement of the MDGs will continue to be off track.

As the recent external evaluation of IFAD has recognized, IFAD is the only international organization established to focus exclusively on the situation of the rural poor. In fact, the evaluation notes that the problem IFAD was created to tackle continues, and is likely to continue in the foreseeable future. IFAD in this sense is a vital public good in the global quest to reach the MDGs.

Mr Chairman,

Over our 27 years of operations, the Fund has gained extensive experience in working with the rural poor, their communities and their institutions to find ways to help them build more productive and secure lives. Today, IFAD has become a full-fledged development institution focused on rural poverty.

We focus on three primary objectives:

• we improve equitable access to land, water and other natural resources, as well as technology;
• we increase access to financial services and markets; and
• we strengthen the capacity of rural poor people and their organizations.

Our programmes stress gender equality, pay special attention to the needs of indigenous and margina liz ed groups, and emphasize environmental sustainability. "To reach the unreached and amplify the voice of the voiceless" is IFAD's role. I am very pleased that we have had side events this year devoted to the perspectives of indigenous peoples and on farmers' organizations. A significant part of our funding goes to rural finance and we are actively taking part in the International Year of Microfinance. In Latin America , for instance, access to microfinance is allowing poor recipients of remittances to save and invest part of these to improve their medium-term livelihoods.

We have today close to 200 ongoing programmes and projects. These are helping more than 100 million rural poor women and men to build better lives.

IFAD has invested almost 3 billion dollars in these activities. With cofinancing, that investment has been more than doubled to 6.1 billion dollars.

I am pleased to be able to say that IFAD is reaching more rural poor people than ever before.

We are moving in the right direction. In the Sixth Replenishment, we mobi liz ed 20 per cent more resources than in the previous replenishment.

In the past three years, we have increased our programme of work by 28 per cent, reaching a record level of 500 million dollars a year. That would not have been possible had we not invested in reform in the institution, in financial management, in human resources, in operational quality, in policy development, in communication and in stronger oversight and evaluation of our programmes.

In the past few years, we have worked hard to strengthen our efficiency, transparency and impact. And a reinforced emphasis on policy dialogue and advocacy are helping us put agricultural and rural development issues on the global agenda.

We have developed a system of strategic guidance, comprising a strategic framework and regional and country programme strategies that drive pipeline development and our annual programme of work and budget.

We have further put in place a comprehensive system of measuring and monitoring results, impact and performance complemented by an independent Office of Evaluation.

We are focusing on field-level impact through more emphasis on field presence and on mainstreaming innovation.

We have strengthened our strategic planning, communication, policy and human resources capabilities. Furthermore, 40 per cent of IFAD's professional staff are now women.

Over the past four years, Distinguished Governors, we have begun a journey together to make IFAD a stronger institution to serve you as a partner in your fight against rural poverty and in your quest for development and human dignity for the forgotten rural poor.

IFAD's efforts in rural poverty reduction and rural development have been recognized. The Rural Poverty Report of 2001 made a major contribution to bringing rural development back onto the development agenda.

The draft report of the Independent External Evaluation tells us that we are on a par with other multilateral lending institutions and that most of our projects are successful. This is a good starting point when you consider that our programmes are implemented in some of the most remote and margina liz ed parts of the world. But this is not enough. We must and will do better.

I welcome the IEE, which will be completed in April. I am proud that we have undergone such a fully independent and transparent study of our impact, operations, governance and human resources management. Many of you will already have read or heard about its findings, because we shared all draft reports and responses widely among our staff and Board members.

Mr Chairman,

The initiatives of the last four years provide a solid basis for the future. IFAD itself is a unique partnership between developing, OPEC and OECD countries. The partnership has served the institution well and, in today's world, I believe that such a partnership is more valuable than ever. In the coming years, I will engage more profoundly and actively with all the groups of our membership. This partnership has to be nurtured and developed further so that we can achieve a higher replenishment and a larger programme of work. This has to be underpinned by an effective change programme to respond to emerging needs and opportunities.

In this respect, external evaluation is providing us with many valuable insights and recommendations on ways to enhance the institution.

We will respond fully to these.

We look forward to bringing a more d eta iled and comprehensive response to the IEE recommendations to the April 2005 session of the Executive Board.

For IFAD to do more, and to do better, I believe we must move forward on three major fronts.

First, we must expand our resources so that we can reach more people. I would like to see our programme of work grow by at least 10 per cent a year. This Governing Council will establish the Consultation on the Seventh Replenishment of IFAD's Resources. We must ensure that we complete it in a timely fashion - by the end of this year - and achieve a substantially higher replenishment level.

Second, we must use these resources more effectively for greater and more sustainable impact. The key to impact is country ownership. We need to actively participate in the formulation and implementation of country-led and coordinated poverty reduction strategies and to harmonize our efforts on the basis of borrowing country priorities and processes. Within IFAD we will strengthen our country teams to be able to engage more actively at the country level in implementation support, policy dialogue and knowledge management. We will further strengthen our policy function and partnership-building.

In a rapidly changing environment, innovation is crucial. We will pursue innovation with our partners - to generate new solutions and to promote their replication and scaling up. Closely linked to innovation is a more systematic approach to knowledge management within the institution, but equally with our development partners.

Indeed, partnerships are the very foundation of our approach. We have long-standing and increasingly close collaboration with our sister UN agencies in Rome , other UN organizations, the World Bank and other multilateral financial institutions as well as with the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and the Global Environment Facility. We also have strong partnerships beyond the United Nations system with civil society and the private sector. With the International Land Coalition, for example, we help rural people gain access to land and natural resources. With the Global Mechanism, we are helping to implement the Convention to Combat Desertification. Cofinancing with the OPEC Fund is strong and continues to grow.

Our many bilateral partnerships include the long-standing one with the Belgian Survival Fund and the recent Initiative for Mainstreaming Innovation with the United Kingdom . Our key partnerships are, of course, with our borrowing member countries.

Third, we must strengthen the institution's ability to deliver more and better support. The devotion and commitment of staff to our shared goal of eradicating rural poverty and hunger is key. Their efforts have been tireless. In order to bring out the potential of every IFAD staff member, we will further strengthen our human resources system and capabilities. Training and recruitment are crucial for enhanced staff capacity. The diversity of IFAD's staff is a key strength of the institution to be maintained and enhanced.

We will develop further our performance reporting, quality assurance and self-evaluation systems.

We need to consolidate the gains of the past years in administrative reform and in human and financial resource development.

Building on the evaluation recommendations and on our own experience, we will bring forward a plan of action for the next four years - a plan that is carefully structured, managed and resourced. Lessons learned from implementation of the action plans from the Fifth and Sixth Replenishments and the Strategic Change Programme will be important.

Mr Chairman,

The tsunami that destroyed the lives of so many people in December underlines the vulnerability of the poor. Yet, the spontaneous outpouring of support shows not only generosity but our shared sense of humanity.

This disaster did not distinguish between rich and poor - all knew the pain of loss. But it is the poor who bear the heaviest burden since they have few assets.

At IFAD, we are working with our member countries to help tsunami-affected communities not only to rebuild, but to overcome the poverty that makes them so vulnerable in the first place.

Inevitably, the world will turn its attention elsewhere. When it does, we at IFAD will remain focused on the aftermath of this tsunami - and on the continuing tragedy of mass poverty and hunger.

Mr Chairman,

Every day, poor people around the world die from malnutrition, HIV/AIDS and other diseases, and conflict. More than 200 000 die each month from these causes in Africa alone. Natural disasters like the tsunami in Asia and hurricanes in Central America further deepen the chronic deprivation of hundreds of millions of others.

At the same time, it is a moment of promise. The Millennium Declaration and the MDGs have created an agreed international framework within which to eradicate poverty.

Like Uganda, many developing countries are showing strong determination to focus their energies, policies and resources on ending poverty, particularly by supporting more rapid rural development.

Like Belgium, many developed countries have pledged to increase their official development assistance substantially in the coming years.

Our resources for fighting poverty have expanded in the past four years. They must double in the future. This will not be achieved overnight. But the next few days will see the start of the process that will take us closer to that target.

In the past decade, the development community has not placed a great deal of attention on rural development. That was a mistake. But rural poverty is now at the heart of the world's quest to achieve the MDGs. The time is ripe to redress the balance.

IFAD's experience clearly demonstrates that poor people, given the opportunity, can raise their productivity and incomes and work their way out of poverty. Only one third of one per cent of official development assistance is channelled through IFAD. In the light of the MDG challenge and IFAD's capacity, we must ask ourselves today whether these are the right priorities. Can we - together as development partners - change this?

I believe we can, and must.

Together we can make rural poverty history.

Thank you.