International Conference on Afghanistan
The Hague, March 31, 2009-03-31 Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, your Excellencies and distinguished delegates.  Let me thank you for bringing us together today, and for inviting the World Bank to contribute. This meeting is a reflection of the deep concern of the international community and our united quest to find a solution for the serious issues confronting Afghanistan.  The past two years in Afghanistan have been exceptionally tough. We all face grave challenges. That said, I see opportunities for Afghanistan, as well as challenges. In this context I want to emphasize three points:  1)     the nexus between security and development, including regional development  2)     the opportunity to build on the successes that the Government, supported by all of us here, has achieved to date, and  3)     how the World Bank has, and can further contribute in the future, to the development of this country and its people.  On the link between security and development, our understanding of how best to secure development is still evolving. But clearly, first and foremost, we need to focus on building the legitimacy, capacity and credibility of the State. Legitimacy needs to be earned by delivering basic services to citizens. And there have been remarkable successes in delivering public services in Afghanistan. They need to be built upon and scaled up. A key question is how to expand that responsibility and thus legitimacy, when government controls only a limited amount of public resources. With two thirds of aid still bypassing government, and with more and more donors earmarking assistance to particularly provinces, the government’s credibility and ability to build national programs will remain challenged. It is important that whoever delivers the services, they need to be seen to emanate from government and simultaneously government needs to improve its accountability to citizens on the use of public resources.  The first priority among basic services is security so that people can begin to live something closer to a normal life. But security needs to go hand in hand with development and tangible improvement in the livelihoods of all Afghans. In addition, because security crosses borders, it is imperative that the security-development nexus be also examined in a regional context. This is where the World Bank and other development partners are active.  For example on regional cooperation the World Bank is helping with customs and trade and transit treating with neighboring countries, especially Pakistan. We are preparing the North West sub-region Trade Facilitation project. We have also made considerable progress towards building a regional power grid with a plan to bring surplus electricity from Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic to Pakistan via Afghanistan. And of course the scope for further investment in regional transport, energy and water resource management is extraordinary.  We all know that there have been a number of development successes in Afghanistan, particularly with respect to national programs, to which others have referred. We should be proud of these successes which cover areas such as basic health, education, rural infrastructure and microfinance. But we need to build on them and scale them up urgently. We also need to build Afghan capacity. Extra technical assistance, however, will only work if it is responsive to Afghan leadership and delivered in true partnership.  Among these successes the National Solidarity Program, which the World Bank has supported from the outset, stands out. Founded on the principles of grassroots democracy this program has reached over 22,000 communities – about 68 percent of the rural population. It has disbursed over $564 million in grants to communities to fund small projects developing irrigation, power, water supply and roads. It is providing tangible benefits that the population perceives as being delivered by the Afghan government. We simply must continue to roll it out across the country. Annual expenditures are now around $90 million a year and we could scale it up to $300 million a year if funding were available. But it is not. I would say one of our challenges here today is whether we can commit to that. Remaining steadfast on NSP and other national programs would allow Afghan communities to feel that their government is meeting their needs – in other words, becoming a legitimate state.  We think a good example of a more harmonized approach to financing the Afghanistan National Development Strategy is the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, which the World Bank administers. The ARTF pools funds from 30 countries and international organizations and channels them entirely through the government budget under strict fiduciary controls. ARTF has raised $3 billion to date and is supporting payment of teachers, health workers, as well as large investments in national programs.  I hope I have adequately conveyed that the agenda is before us – both in Afghanistan and in the Region. We knew from the start that rebuilding Afghanistan was a challenge of daunting complexity. While Afghanistan is fortunate in that the impact of the financial crisis so far has been limited, this is not the case for donors. It is vital that we guard against reductions in aid flows, but we must also improve the effectiveness of that aid by supporting sound national programs, working through, rather than around government, and pooling our resources. The World Bank remains committed to working with our partners in the Government of Afghanistan, NATO, the United Nations and the rest of the international community. Building on and bringing to scale those programs with a positive track record is where we should be coming together urgently now. |
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