Press release number: IFAD 44/01

Bucharest Workshop will Challenge Governments and Donors to Foster Innovative Strategic Programmes

Rome, Bucharest, 7 December 2001- A two day Regional Rural Poverty Assessment and Strategic Opportunities Workshop for Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Caucasus will be held in Bucharest, Romania, from Tuesday 11 December to Wednesday 12 December 2001 at the conference Hall of the Bucharest World Trade Center. The Workshop features the participation of key government officials, parliamentarians and policy makers from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova and Romania, and of representatives of development co-operation agencies, international development organisations, financial institutions, and a number of key bilateral donors and civil society representatives. The workshop is organised by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in collaboration with Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests on behalf of Romania’s Government. It will be inaugurated by H.E. Mr Ion Iliescu, President of Romania, and Mr. Klemens van de Sand, Assistant President, Programme Management Department, IFAD.

The Workshop will discuss the causes, variations and specific features of rural poverty in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Caucasus. Participants will seek to identify strategic considerations and opportunities for reducing rural poverty in the region. The IFAD Rural Poverty Report 2001, officially launched earlier this year by Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, will also be presented in the course of the Workshop. The Report argues that, to be successful, poverty reduction policies must focus on rural areas and stresses the need for increased investment in agriculture if the Millennium Summit target of halving poverty by 2015 is to be met.

The total rural poor in the region are about 12.3 million persons, or half of the rural population. Many of these are farmers who turned to agriculture following the loss of employment caused by the collapse of former state industries and enterprises. Beyond this, rural poverty is most severe and widespread among farmers in mountainous areas, landless rural wage earners, rural women, the elderly, minorities and internally displaced persons. The Workshop will discuss how these countries can meet the challenge of transforming agriculture from a way of coping with poverty to a way out of poverty.

Seeking to contribute to the Millennium Development Goals (adopted by the international community), IFAD’s strategic objective in the region is to support the transition process with sustainable agricultural programmes that contribute to rural poverty reduction. Project interventions in the region will focus on long-term institutional development and support for new market linkages as common concerns to all the countries in the region. Other strategic areas for IFAD support may include investments in on-farm productivity, development of the non-farm rural economy and creation of sustainable natural-resource management systems. Each priority area will be addressed, in part, through the development of rural financial services that channel resources directly to activities that benefit the rural poor.

As of end-2001, IFAD had supported a total of 17 investment projects in the region. Total IFAD lending in the region amounts to USD178 million thus far, with the total value of all projects, including co-financing and government and beneficiary contributions, equalling USD380 million. Each dollar IFAD has invested has generated an additional USD1.14 from co-financiers.

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IFAD is a specialised agency of the United Nations with the specific mandate of combating hunger and poverty in the most disadvantaged regions of the world. Since 1978 IFAD has financed 584 projects in 114 recipient countries and in the West Bank and Gaza for a total commitment of approximately USD 7.2 billion in loans and grants. IFAD makes the greater part of its resources available to low-income countries on very favourable terms, with up to 40 years for repayment and including a grace period of up to ten years and a service charge of 0.75% per year.