Ideas to Action:
Independent research for global prosperity
Rodrigo de Rato's announcement Thursday that he will step down as Managing Director at the IMF following the Fund and World Bank annual meetings in October took almost everyone by surprise (see Washington Post article). The timing was especially puzzling, as the announcement comes just as much of Mr. de Rato’s reform agenda is moving from concept to reality. Mr.
Reuters recently reported that the global health community is beginning to explore potential insurance mechanisms and risk management products to finance pandemic flu vaccines for developing countries, in addition to a new vaccine stockpile supported by GSK and other manufacturers:
For Millennium Challenge Account watchers already dismayed by early rumors that the Senate Appropriations Committee was going to approve funding for the program at $1.4 billion -- below the $1.8 billion mark that came out of the House, late yesterday's news of a $1.2 billion mark was startling. Says the Committee press release:
Today the MCC Board approved two new compacts -- Mozambique and Lesotho -- as Sarah reported yesterday. Together with the Morocco compact expected to be signed at the end of August, the MCC will have approved 14 compacts totaling $4.55 billion.
Yesterday Robert Zoellick was elected by unanimous vote by the Board of the World Bank to become its next president. He now assumes The Hardest Job in the World, as we called it in a 2005 CGD report to the then-incoming president, Paul Wolfowitz. Mr. Zoellick is an avid reader -- and absorbs ideas and issues like a sponge. This bodes well for the Bank and for Bank staff. Informal meetings he has had with officials around the world, activists, and Bank watchers in Washington's leading think tanks indicate Mr.
The two new candidates nominated to serve on MCC's Board of Directors, Alan Patricof and Lorne Craner, were confirmed by the Senate on June 22. This will make tomorrow's (June 27th) board meeting MCC's first ever with a full board of directors.
The July edition of Vanity Fair guest edited by Bono puts Africa and global development back on newsstands around the country. Americans can choose from one of twenty different covers featuring prominent people--from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Oprah Winfrey, George W. Bush, Queen Rania of Jordan and others--having conversations about Africa.
If not dead, the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations are almost certainly going into extended hibernation after talks among the four key players, the United States, European Union, India, and Brazil, collapsed on Thursday in Potsdam. Time was already running desperately short for completing the round this year because the authority that allows the president to negotiate trade agreements and submit them to Congress for an up or down vote expires at the end of the month.
Usually a big fan of the succint and balanced reporting of Congressional Quarterly, last weeks article by Tom Starks entitled "A Slouching Millennium Challenge." was a let down. A lost opportunity to provide a balanced view to some of the stale assertions. Readers know that because I care about the success of the MCA as a new foreign aid program for a new era, I am often a constructive critic But this article screams for more food for thought:
Says Starks:
As public demand for a climate-conscious government grows, so does the proposed legislation in Congress. At least half a dozen bills aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions have now been introduced. But even if these bills were passed and entered into law today, many would not take effect for at least three years – perhaps longer given the prospect of legal delays. At the same time, the window for action is quickly closing.
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