Mr Chairman, President Båge, Fellow Governors, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Let me start by expressing my sincere thanks to the outgoing President Lennart Båge for the dedication with which he has led IFAD throughout the eight years of his presidency.

Briefly said, “Lennart, you’ve done a great job at IFAD. Thank you!”

What has been achieved in the past eight years is a solid base for the incoming president to build on and to further strengthen the organization.

Yesterday, Mr Nwanze, the IFAD member states elected you the new president of the organization.

Congratulations to you, Mr Nwanze on your election. I wish you every success in managing the organization, and in securing IFAD an adequate role in the future global governance architecture for agriculture, food, and reducing hunger - to the benefit of those IFAD is supposed to assist in their efforts to overcome poverty:  the rural poor.

I would like to assure you that Germany is ready not only to continue but to enhance its cooperation with IFAD.

In the past eight years IFAD has achieved a lot, in terms of both its contribution to rural development and poverty reduction and in implementing far-reaching internal reforms with a view to enhancing its development effectiveness.

Based on these achievements, the IFAD VIII replenishment negotiations were concluded in December last year with a record result. It is promising that by mid-February pledges already amount to almost USD 950 million.

Germany pledged up to USD 70 million, which is a 75 percent increase compared to our contribution to IFAD VII.

The increase as well as the absolute amount of the replenishment target reflect the generally positive assessment of IFAD’s work.

First evaluation results indicate that the reforms, which have been carried out over the past years, start bearing fruit. IFAD has improved its development effectiveness and is well positioned to implement a significantly larger work program.

However, change management is a continuous process. There is no room for complacency. We trust that you, Mr Nwanze, and your management team will push ahead with the reform agenda, which is not yet fully finished.

We expect IFAD to maintain a clear-cut focus on its core mandate, the empowerment of the smallholder farmers and the rural poor to overcome poverty and hunger, with no deviations into areas in which IFAD does not have a clear comparative advantage and proven expertise. This is key to us.

Moreover, we expect IFAD to give, in addition to project financing and implementation, more weight to policy advice.

IFAD needs to further strengthen its capacity to carry on a policy dialog with its partner countries on pro-poor sector policies – or, more precisely, on designing and implementing agricultural policies that effectively contribute to rural development and poverty alleviation. This requires a close cooperation with other stakeholders and development partners, guided by the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action. Being a UN organization, we expect IFAD to be firmly committed to the United Nations’ objective of increasingly “delivering as one.”

The “Report of the Consultation on the Eighth Replenishment of IFAD’s Resources,” which the Governing Council will formally adopt, is the roadmap for IFAD. I would like to explicitly welcome that it was agreed to have a midterm review meeting, at which member states will take stock of the status of the implementation of the Report and thoroughly check if the agreed results have been delivered.

Fellow Governors, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The food crisis clearly dominated development-related discussions in the first nine months of last year. Currently, the financial market crisis, which has actually grown out into a global economic recession, overshadows the food crisis.

However, I would like to point out that the G20 Summit Declaration on Financial Markets and the World Economy of November 15, 2008 explicitly reinforced the G20’s commitment to addressing other critical challenges as well, such as food security and poverty.

The problem of food insecurity and poverty can only be overcome if is tackled as part of an inclusive growth strategy.

The productive potential of the poor needs to be utilized, and the globally increasing social imbalances and inequalities need to be addressed rigorously. I agree with IFAD that the he smallholder farmers must be made an essential part of our endeavors to achieving food security.

Just recently, the political dimension of the food crisis has been emphasized by the Madrid Conference on “Food Security for All”. In addition to the humanitarian aspect, the critical global food situation also poses a global security risk. That is one reason why the decision was taken in Madrid to establish a “Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition.”

Against the background of the food crisis a broad consensus has emerged that agriculture and rural development must move up on the global development agenda if the goals of poverty eradication and global food security are to be achieved.

Being the only International Financial Institution exclusively mandated to enable the rural poor to overcome poverty and to promote smallholder agriculture, IFAD plays an important role in tackling food insecurity and rural poverty.

IFAD’s importance has most certainly been growing, as evidenced by its explicit mentioning in the G8 “Toyaka Declaration on Global Food Security” of July 2008. IFAD is a key player in the “High-Level Task Force on Global Food Security,” it has substantially contributed to the “Comprehensive Framework of Action.” And, not least, IFAD is one of the UN organizations that is to play a major role in shaping the “Madrid Process.”

IFAD’s role in the global governance architecture for agriculture, food and reducing hunger must be strengthened.

But it is not the institution as such that counts.

According to the latest FAO figures, the number of the undernourished in the world has risen in 2008 to 963 million, undercutting progress on the first Millennium Development Goal of eradicating hunger and poverty. For those who suffer from hunger, who are trapped in poverty, who lead a life in misery … for them IFAD’s work matters.

For them, IFAD’s work must make a difference. To their benefit, IFAD must strive to achieve the greatest possible development impact with its resources.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for your kind attention.