Mr. Chairman,
President Bage,
Distinguished Delegates

2006 has been a year of introspection and change for IFAD: the Seventh Replenishment, Action Plan, Strategic Framework, a new senior management team. Pakistan welcomes Vice President Nwanze and Assistant Presidents Wyatt, Cleaver and Mabutas and looks forward to their leadership in managing the change that 2006 has ushered in.

Mr. Chairman,

Pakistan looks upon IFAD as a critical partner in its fight against rural poverty. In recognition of this Pakistan doubled its contribution to the 7th replenishment and may give more. In addition, our own direct and indirect contribution to IFAD projects in Pakistan has been about ten times IFAD’s investment.

Fostering a strong partnership with IFAD is a priority for us. Certain aspects, though, call for greater reflection. Not as a critique – IFAD  enjoys our fullest confidence -  but as the pursuit of excellence that we share.

Mr. Chairman,

IFAD is no ordinary IFI. It must not lose its identity.  Its strength is its specificity. Let us not crowd it out by trying to do too much or what others can do better. There needs to be a better burden – sharing, a division of labour based on respective strengths of IFAD partners.

There is room for an efficiency upgrade. The approval – effectiveness time lag,  time over-runs,  closures, sub-optimal disbursement ratios, suggest design and supervision weaknesses that we hope the Action Plan will address.

The Performance-based allocation system, that incentivizes good governance, is a step in the right direction but needs to be tampered so that the poor and the disempowered are not penalized for  shortcomings that are not of their making. Bad governance does not always grow out of bad intentions; poor policies have several fathers not all of them indigenous; project failures have myriad causes including design defects. As we embark on the Universal Allocations System – no mean task but IFAD has the wherewithal – we   hope  it in no way compromises the larger goal: making poverty history.

Mr. Chairman,

IFAD has 165  members. Does our governance structure allow participation of all, a strong sense of communal ownership? It is worrying, for instance, that of the 129 list C members more than 100 are excluded, in perpetuity, from IFAD’s decision making process.  We are not oblivious to the  imperatives of an IFI but clearly IFAD has to be  more inclusive, more participatory.

We note with satisfaction the 7th replenishment has been made effective. We were hoping for a more robust  increase in pledges;  now we need to release  maximum resources to meet IFAD objectives.  We are happy the issue of  excess liquidity is being addressed and  hope  our $ 2.4 billion investment portfolio,  where we understand returns during the last two years have been below the expected RoR of 3.5% per annum, is being managed well.

Mr. Chairman,

High growth in several countries of Asia and Pacific  has contributed to lower poverty levels. Simultaneously, local innovation capabilities and knowledge management systems are expanding. The private sector is stepping up and regional integration growing. We need to nurture this investment-knowledge nexus and share it with other Regions.  IFAD  can help build on these capabilities  through systemic country initiative and presence; through financial instruments that align the private sector to agreed development objectives; through a programmatic focus on knowledge  management. A new IFAD  business model rooted in shared experiences that Pakistan will be happy to support.

Mr. Chairman,

In the recent past Pakistan has maintained an impressive growth rate, around 7%. Over the last four years or so our per capita income has doubled and our poverty level down from close to 34% to 24%. But even this is unconscionably high.  We are determined to change this and ensure growth with equity. Agricultural and rural development is the key - hence a 14 fold increase in our budgetary allocations to these sectors.

IFAD is our natural partner in meeting this challenge of rural poverty. Let’s do it.  Together.

I thank you.

Mr. Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan
Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock
Government Of Pakistan