Madam Chairperson
The President of IFAD
Distinguished Governors
Ladies and Gentlemen
Madam Chairperson,

At the outset I would like to convey my warm greetings and best wishes to you Madam Chairperson as you continue to so ably preside over the Governing Council of this important institution for the second year.

I also take this opportunity to offer our felicitations to Mr. Fawzi H. Al-Sultan and express deep appreciation for the able guidance that he provided to this organisation during his Presidency. During his tenure, IFAD has improved its cost-effectiveness and managed a zero-growth organisational budget in each of the last seven years. While this is a tremendous achievement by itself, it becomes even greater when considered along with the fact that the amount of loans provided has grown by about a third during the same period. We as Governors bid a fond farewell to him today and wish the very best in his future endeavours.

It is our hope and confidence that IFAD will continue to build upon its innovative strengths under the new leadership. We are confident that IFAD would take a lead role in global initiatives in the agriculture and rural sectors and forge closer and dynamic partnerships with project countries, the World Bank, FAO and other multilateral agencies. This should foster more effective and results-oriented use of IFAD's resources and expertise to local level institutional strengthening, development initiatives and innovations. This along with a long term strategy for funding should also see concrete steps taken by the stakeholders in IFAD in expanding its resource base and making it predictable and regular. As many distinguished Governors pointed out, IFAD’s strength lies in the ownership of the Organisation by countries from different political and geographical groupings. It is our wish that the management and staffing structure should reflect this diversity.

As distinguished members are fully aware, a major earthquake had rocked the Indian State of Gujarat on our Republic day, the 26th of January 2001. There has been an unprecedented loss of life and property. The reconstruction would demand much more than just brick and mortar and would take several months and years. Today, I take this opportunity to convey our gratitude to the prompt show of solidarity, support and assistance by several national governments, organisations and individuals.

As we begin this new millennium, the uppermost concern in our minds is to meet the challenge of poverty. The international community must accord high priority to improving the living conditions of the poor and vulnerable sections across countries. An unequal world where the fruits of development are bypassing almost half of the world’s population can never be a stable world. Poverty reduction perceived as a global public good calls for concerted action by the international community.

Reduction of poverty is an original mandate of the IFAD. Development challenges, including those of globalisation, have become much more complicated in the present millennium. There is a need for stepping up of efforts at local level to ensure that fruits of development flow to the poor and small farmers who live in the marginalised and dry land areas. In India, a constitutional backing has been given to our efforts to fully involve the local communities, women and the beneficiary groups in formulation, implementation and evaluation of all poverty reduction programmes at the grass-roots level.

Our Government has also been addressing the issue of poverty alleviation since the beginning of planned development in the early 1950s. Through our development planning strategy, we have been able to make a considerable dent on this problem. The percentage of population below the poverty line has steadily declined from 54.9% in 1973-74, to 36% in 1993-94 and 27% in 1998-99. We are enthused to further strengthen and support these initiatives in India and worldwide. We fully emote with the poor and would strive to act in harmony with the efforts of the international community to eradicate poverty.

India and IFAD have had a long and fruitful relationship – where we have been both a donor and a recipient of financial assistance. We have pledged US$ 12 million to the 5^th Replenishment of IFAD as an affirmation of our faith in the mandate of the institution. With the Fifth Replenishment having become complete, we are confident that IFAD would continue to play a crucial role in the task of poverty reduction worldwide. While supporting the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative (HIPC DI), it is our considered view that this should be funded through additional resources so that the level of concessional lending is not adversely affected. As distinguished members would know, there are many countries outside the purview of the HIPC initiative who have managed their finances against various odds; they deserve continuing support through concessional lending.

Madam Chairperson,

I would like to conclude by urging all member countries to reaffirm and reiterate our commitment to tackle the poverty that is the single most important challenge facing the global community. I reassure India’s fullest support to IFAD in the coming years.

Thank you.

Statement by Dr. Adarsh Kishore, Additional Secretary,
Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance,
Government of India