Distinguished chair, fellow governors, Excellencies, delegates, ladies and gentlemen:

At the World Economic Forum in Davos last month a statement was issued vowing to make 2008 a turning point in the fight against poverty, pledging “to work together to help the world get back on track to meet the MDGs.”

On present trends, as we know, some of the MDGs will not be met for 50 years – at least.  But poor people should not be asked to wait 50 years for the action that we promised in 2000

It is clear that if the MDGs are to be reached it will require new energy and a more comprehensive and better joined up approach, combining the efforts of all partners.

We join you in celebrating IFAD’s achievements on its thirtieth anniversary.  But this thirty-year-old is working in a very different world to the one it was born into.  How can we, the Membership, ensure that the Organisation can take on the huge and evolving challenges the world is facing.

Many speakers have referred to the World Development Report for 2008 on Agriculture for Development. It calls for a renewed focus on the agricultural sector.  This brings with it new issues, new roles, new actors and new opportunities.

Of course rural poverty isn’t just about agriculture, as my colleague from India and others have noted.  But the WDR does pose relevant questions about how institutions and mechanisms to implement and finance the global agenda for agriculture can respond to new political and economic realities.

IFAD clearly has an important role in this.  Focusing exclusively on the rural poor, it is truly a specialised agency of the United Nations.  We welcome IFAD’s ongoing commitment to the UN’s Delivering as One and to strengthening partnerships, including through the One UN pilots, with governments, civil society and the other IFIs.

Yesterday the outgoing Chair of the Governing Council said that IFAD has some important events coming up, including a new replenishment – subject to this Council’s final decision – and the election of a new President. This is an especially important time for us, the Membership, as we are called on to make decisions that will have an important impact on IFAD’s future.

IFAD is renowned for the sense of ownership by and collaboration between all Member States.

The participation here is testimony to that. The Governing Council will be aware that dialogue was strengthened last year, for example during discussions that reached across the membership on the possibility on introducing an Independent Chair of Replenishment.

We need to ensure that our decisions foster ever increasing advocacy, support and partnership.

This Governing Council mandated the Organisation to implement an Action Plan in response to IFAD’s Independent External Evaluation.  The Action Plan is helping improve IFAD’s effectiveness.   We all welcome the progress made, including in innovation, highlighted as one of IFAD’s areas of comparative advantage.

I believe that we, the Membership, also need to be innovative.  We need to be prepared to look openly at the mechanisms and tools that we and IFAD have that equip the Organisation – thirty years on – carry out its mandate.  We need these processes to work in the best interests of the Organisation.  Modern processes for a modern organisation.

We look forward, as we embark on what promises to be an eventful year, to working together across the Membership and with IFAD towards achieving our shared goal, the one that is written large behind me: Enabling poor rural people to overcome poverty.

Thank you for your attention.