Madam Chair,
President Dr. Kanayo Nwanze,
Fellow Governors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The annual meeting of IFAD’s Governing Council is an opportunity to look back and take stock of what happened and what has been achieved in the past 12 months, and to look ahead at the challenges to be tackled in the months and years to come.

The challenge of eradicating hunger and attaining food security has been on top of the global political agenda throughout last year. I would like to highlight just three events:

• At the G8 summit in Italy in July 2009, the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative was launched. The G8 Heads of State and Government pledged to mobilize USD 20 bn over the period of three years to foster sustainable agriculture, food security and rural development. Additional countries have joined the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative and brought total pledges towards agriculture development to USD 22 bn over the next three years.
• The World Food Summit in Rome in November 2009 strongly endorsed the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security (GPAFS), which was launched at the High Level Meeting on Food Security for All in Madrid in January 2009, with the Committee on World Food Security as a central institutional component.
• Based on the declaration adopted by the G20 leaders in Pittsburgh in September 2009, which highlights the urgent need for sustained funding and targeted investments to improve long-term food security, the World Bank is in the process of establishing a Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) as a multilateral mechanism to scale-up agricultural assistance to low income countries.

 

These are building blocks of an emerging new international agricultural architecture. Already in 2008, the World Development Report had come to the conclusion that the global agricultural institutions established in the 20th century are no longer prepared to adequately tackle today’s challenges. The cooperation between the three Rome-based UN agencies needs to be strengthened further. But, moreover, IFAD needs to adapt to the changing global governance structures if it is to remain its relevance as a specialized agency tasked with empowering the rural poor to overcome poverty by fostering sustainable smallholder agriculture. 

Mr. President,

it is our perception that IFAD’s exertion of influence on the international processes shaping the new international governance regime is less prominent than it could and, given IFAD’s undisputed expertise, should be. We think IFAD can do better. We would like to encourage IFAD to participate more actively in these processes, to make its voice heard, and to clearly spell out its vision of IFAD’s role in the aid architecture, its strategic focus, and its conceptual ideas on the division of labor between the various agencies.

To do so, an efficient organizational structure needs to be in place. In this context, let me take the opportunity to welcome the appointment of Ms. Omura as Vice President.

Mr. President,

in the December session of the Executive Board you announced far-reaching organizational changes including a re-configuration of the senior management responsibilities aimed at streamlining the management structure and increasing IFAD’s institutional efficiency. It is, though, our understanding that IFAD is still in a transition phase and that further organizational changes are to follow. We would like to ask you to present a comprehensive concept for the envisaged new organizational structure for discussion in the Executive Board.

In this context, I would like to stress the importance of vigorously pressing ahead with the human resources reform agenda, as laid down in the IFAD VIII Replenishment Report. The introduction of an open, transparent, and merit-based process for the selection of all senior staff needs to be made a key element of the organizational and human resources reforms.

The IFAD VIII replenishment was formally concluded in August last year, with donor contributions exceeding USD 1 bn. Congratulations to you, Mr. President, your management team, and all IFAD staff for having achieved this record result! This reflects the positive assessment of IFAD’s work by its membership, including Germany. We think that, capacity-wise, IFAD is well positioned to substantially expand its work program. We regret, however, the unequal burden share between the lists. List A countries account for more than 83%, List B countries for only slightly more than 8% of the contributions.

To ensure that the additional resources will result in a significantly increased development impact, IFAD needs to strictly adhere to its reform agenda and strive for further increasing its development effectiveness. The overarching principles of efficiency and effectiveness are the yardstick against which whatsoever IFAD does is to be measured. I would like to add that this includes cost-efficiency. As much resources as possible are to be used for operational purposes, administrative expenses are to be cut down to a minimum.

Mr. President,

Germany has been and will remain a reliable partner to IFAD. In the spirit of this partnership, we will continue to closely monitor if IFAD makes best use of its resources, the institutional an organizational reforms, and their impact on IFAD’s capacity to deliver results.

Madam Chair,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

thank you very much for your attention.

17 February 2010