 I thank you very much, first of all, to the Institute for hosting me here today. I'm also delighted to find myself in the beautiful Dublin in gorgeous Ireland. I had been looking forward to coming here since I represent Irish interests at the bank. So I waited until this month, and here I am. I've already had some very interesting discussions with both my authorities, as we call them, and also with CSOs here, and really look forward to engaging tomorrow with Irish aid in particular. I think it's an opportunity for me to say that the role that Ireland is playing in development is very well known, very respected, so thank you for hosting me. The World Bank, I mean, there is a lot of talk nowadays about global governance architecture. As you well know, I don't think that I have to expand too much with respect to that in front of this crowd. And today I thought that I should perhaps begin by talking a little bit about how the World Bank has actually evolved since its creation, since it is, after all, a post-war creation. And then I will talk to you about the transformation, the internal transformation of the institution, so that it can continue to meet global challenges and continue really to be very relevant in many years to come. And I will end by addressing what the bank has been doing, meeting, for example, the challenges of the Arab Spring. I'll say a few words about issues relating to food price volatility. I will talk about conflict and security. How is the World Bank to act in these countries that are perhaps the most challenging? And I'll say a word or two as well about climate change, since this is, I know, an area of great interest. So the World Bank. I should begin by saying that I walked into the World Bank building invested of my new mandate last November. And in the lobby of the building, how many of you have been in the World Bank building? You have. Okay. So four or five of you have been. Have you noticed what is engraved on the wall, the left hand wall of the bank as you walk in? It is engraved a world rid of poverty, which is the core mission of the bank, actually. And I have to tell you that I found this to be very inspiring. And just to share with you that all members of the bank staff as they walk into the building get a chance to be reminded of what they're supposed to be working on every day. So if the bank is a rather elderly institution today, the environment in which, of course, it must operate has completely changed since its inception. It's the development challenges are ever more complex. We live in an interconnected world. And of course, in many ways, globalization has changed just about everything. As well, I should mention this right up front. The bank is composed. I mean, it's a large enterprise, 187 shareholders. And I have to be frank. I mean, the so-called donor countries aren't experiencing some amount of constraints nowadays. I think sitting in Dublin, I don't have to sort of go on and on about that. So how has the bank evolved as an institution since it was created? Well, the bank started really with the IBRD, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which mandate was to provide funds to support long-term economic development to developing countries in 1945. In 1960, the so-called IDA was established as the agency of the bank to provide concessional financial assistance to the poorest of the developing countries. To this day, it is the world's greatest source of concessional financing assistance in the developing world. Then in 1956, so it came a little bit before the creation of IDA, the International Finance Corporation was added to the group to encourage and support private sector activity in developing countries. Now, I should pause for a moment here and tell you that when we speak about development today, we talk more and more about the importance of looking at private sector development in the developing countries because we are very well conscious that in addition to continuing to focus on core issues like education and public health and the need for good basic infrastructure, we also need to think about how are we going to support sustained economic growth and there we see a very important role, of course, for the private sector. Then at the bank, we saw the creation of MIGA, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, which was established in 1988, to provide non-commercial guarantee for foreign direct investment in developing countries. Now, MIGA's relevance today is really growing. They've had the change of convention. This was just a couple of years ago. I'm looking to my wonderful Irish assistant and my office here. I think it was two years ago, the change. Right. And the advisory services as well that MIGA provides to help countries to basically attract and retain foreign investment is considered as being a very important function. The World Bank Group also has something called ICSID, which focuses on dispute resolutions. So people will talk about the bank, the World Bank. It's really about the World Bank Group, which is the aggregate of all these different arms, if you wish that I've been just talking about. So there has been a process of change and evolution from a structural point of view. And I think that the bank has been able therefore to really keep up with the times and develop itself in a way that has been able to meet challenges as they have come its way. I should say also that whereas the bank remains a very important lending institution, there is a new emphasis put on advisory and technical assistance. So I always like to remind my own authorities in Canada. And we've had the same discussion here with the Irish colleagues that the bank is a huge repository of knowledge about development assistance. And communicating and sharing that knowledge is also very, very critical, as is the lending part. But the knowledge part is, in my opinion, very, very important as well. So if I had been here five years ago talking about the World Bank, I probably might have faced an audience telling me, well, we look at the bank, IBRD, and we see that the lending is sort of on a declining slope. Many, many countries seem to be doing very well. The financial markets and the development world are doing rather well. They're growing and so on and so forth. What of the bank? I mean, what is the absolute relevance of the bank? Then of course, the global financial crises hit. We all know what happened with private credit markets. I think that some countries obviously in the developing world have done well through the crises. Many have not. And I think that looking back now, we can agree that the bank actually has served as a very important counter-cyclical mechanism through the crises. In fact, I was just looking at the figures before coming here. And between July 2008 and April 2010, the World Bank Group provided about $100 billion in financial commitments. So I think that the bank through that period has really demonstrated that it had been able to be nimble to respond quickly. When we look at also the way that it was able to develop new programs, new facilities, I'm certainly as a relative newcomer to the institution. I'm quite impressed with the way that the bank has reacted to the situation. So as we look at the bank, a question we can ask is fine. The bank, I've said, has been able to evolve structurally. The bank has responded very well during the financial crises. Is the bank thinking long-term about what about the future? How is the bank going to remain a very relevant part of this global aid architecture? And here, I want to tell you that the bank has actually embarked on quite a modernization agenda of which I would like to share the main highlights with you. So the so-called governors of the bank in 2010, so it's just a bit over a year ago, agreed on a modernization agenda which is really based on four main points. For five, I'll go through them with you. First of all, they've agreed on what is called, we call it, PCD at the bank. It's a post-crisis direction strategy. And they basically agreed that going forward, the bank should focus on five main objectives. Targeting the poor with a greater focus on social protection systems, gender, conflict and fragile states. I'll come back to that a bit later. Creating opportunities for growth, targeting investments, infrastructure, agriculture, improvements in business climate, a sharpened focus on regional integration and promoting global action by building capacity to provide and manage global public goods. The second element is really looking at governance within the institution, acknowledging the importance of country systems, learning from implementation, building the role of the bank as a catalyst and finally managing risk and preparing for crises. We've looked at voice within the bank and later on I'll say a few words about what does a director do anyway at the bank. And we created last year a third chair for Africa which is very significant in the context of participation within the bank. The bank also has a new access to information policy which is part of transparency and making sure that there is a high level of disclosure of information at the bank. There was also, you might be aware, an agreement on a general capital increase at the bank. And we closed just this past December a very successful replenishment of IDA where actually the bank was able to raise nearly 50 billion dollars. So another aspect of modernization is modernizing internal business practices with the view to increasing the integration of knowledge, accountability, flexibility, looking at the safeguards policies and of course HR practices. So I guess my message here is that the bank is firmly embarked on a modernization plan. It is really keeping up with the times. It is results oriented. I myself sit on the committee on development effectiveness and I can assure you that we are very taken up with the issue with the issue of effectiveness and impact of what we do. So a world rid of poverty. Where are we at today in terms of development, I think is a legitimate question to be asking ourselves. I think that we're just sort of four years and a bit to millennium goals. And if you were to look at all of the MDGs one by one, it's always a question of is the glass half full, is the glass half empty? I'm an eternal optimist and I will say that actually very good progress has been achieved globally in terms of development. But the reality is that there are still many countries that have some way to go in achieving the targets that have been set out by the international community. So I think that it is very much in the spirit of wanting to do more, to do better, more quickly that we are looking at policies and programs because we do believe that in this world that we're in, we simply cannot afford to have a growing number of countries being laggards if you wish in terms of development. So an aspect that I think we have to be very realistic about is that there isn't a single institution, a single donor country that is going to be able to achieve the goals of development working alone. So a very important aspect of what the World Bank does is actually to work in partnerships. And we have a number of new elements coming into the development if you wish agenda or the development arena that are for my part very positive developments. First of all, we have the arrival on the scene of non-traditional donors, as you would know, who are actually very interested in making a contribution. And some of these non-traditional actors are already working in very close association with the bank. The bank has been working with foundations more and more. And you would know of major projects in the public health sector for example. Then what I would like to move to are the four areas where I thought I should say something because they really concretize for an audience what the bank actually has been up to most recently. Middle East and North Africa. We've all followed with a great deal of interest what has happened in that part of the world in the last several months. I was just saying that many books should I say have been written already or are being written or will be written about what has happened there. I think it will be considered as having been a bit of a watershed certainly for the countries involved. What we saw of course was a sort of grassroots movement leading for a call really for better governance and asking for pretty profound change to the landscape in those countries. So as against that the mobilization if you wish of the international community has been a very important element of support to these new governments many transitional now as they struggle to find a way forward. And the bank has played a very very positive role in this regard sitting down with the African Development Bank the European Bank EU many bilateral countries and trying to bring together framework of action as to what can we actually do as the international community to support the Middle East and North Africa on the way forward. So we have looked at issues of governance very much looking at transparency institution buildings how we can help with building more accountability in the institutions issues of social justice inclusive growth of course how can we help develop sustainable economies and there I would say the role of IFC for example will be absolutely important as a catalyst moving forward trying to establish sustainable social protection systems which we're lacking looking at issues of food food price volatility and also trying to come up with some innovative approaches to regional economic integration which simply hasn't happened in that part of the world. So you will have heard what came out of the G7 G8 discussions not too long ago with respect to to the Middle East and North Africa this is not over by any stretch of the imagination but my assessment is that the bank really has played a very catalytic role and stay tuned there will be a lot more to come. Let me turn briefly to the 2011 World Development Report and this is my item on conflict security and development some of you may be aware that once a year the World Bank puts out what I call a seminal policy piece this last spring it was on conflict security and development why put a lens on that well it is as a result of some amount of frustration that the efforts the collective efforts of development and those so-called fragile and conflict states simply had not yielded the the results that the international community was hoping for for many years. The report which I really commend at least you you tried to read that the summary of if you're interested in the in the issue really focused on on six themes and sets of recommendations going forward that making countries strategies more fragility focused was really important for the bank in terms of identifying the stresses the capacity gaps and the opportunities to break cycles of violence and that's that's not easy to do secondly that strengthening partnerships on development security and justice linking with the greater aid architecture in the context very much of Paris and Accra was also critical that there should be increasing attention paid to jobs and private sector development identifying core products such as microfinance and SME management that we needed to realign results and risk management framework for fragile and conflict states and that finally we should be seeking less volatility and financing and providing necessary assistance to address governance issues on the longer term and here I'll pause a little bit on this the issue with so many countries coming out of conflict or fragile states is that it takes a very long time to build the governance or the institutions so you know out there in the in the business world we always use we often use a phrase saying it is important for capital to be patient I think in the context of development when we look at post conflict and fragile states we have to be very patient in terms of our efforts and this sounds like something simple to say in practice is it's not something that is simple to implement because the building of institutions in these countries require a very long term sustained effort and it is a matter of several steps forward and some steps back and I think that there is a sense that maybe we haven't gone at it quite the right way and that in any event we should be much more committed for a longer period of time when tackling these issues by the way the next world of the development report is going to focus on on gender issues so I really look forward to that let me move very quickly to food price volatility food security I'm addressing you today at the same time I think as the farm ministers the agriculture ministers are meeting in Paris in the context of the G20 you will have heard in all the headlines of all the papers over the last several months that there is a real issue around food price volatility I think that world food prices have gone up by about 37% in the last 12 months with all the negative impact that you can imagine this is having on on on development so what kind of role can the World Bank play in this regard what has it been playing with number one let me say that I have been very impressed with the degree of energy that President Zellick has taken on this issue has really made it his issue has been speaking about it very frequently putting it frankly top of mind in terms of policymakers and and political level and that's a very important role that the head of an institution like the World Bank can actually play and then looking at programs and policies of course the World Bank is involved in a number of initiatives and programs that that sort of try to drive at the heart of this issue and it spans the whole continuum the World Bank is really involved in supporting science which is going to of course lead to better solutions in terms of agriculture in the world of course there are short term responses in terms of the provision of grant and concessional lending through the global food crisis response program then you have on the private sector side the IFC which is really has developed and is is going to manage a facility called the agricultural price risk management facility and then we're looking excuse me also at at the management of donor grants for agriculture through the global agriculture and food security program which was created as a result of the last G20 so there are many different areas where the World Bank can and is playing a very positive role with respect to this very difficult sort of a nugget. Let me then talk very briefly about climate change obviously we should all be concerned about issues of climate change but as as you well know climate change is expected to have a particularly negative impact on many developing countries. I have to tell you that in addition to having the great privilege and pleasure of representing Ireland I have as part of my constituency as well 11 Caribbean states so when I look at the potential impact of climate change and of natural disasters this is something that I have to contend with every single day in the context of managing my constituents interest so the bank has already put in place a number of very interesting programs to look at this to be able to provide a response the World Bank has a global facility for disaster risk reduction and recovery I think that in addition to wanting to have longer term policies looking at climate change it's important for the bank to help build immediate resilience within these countries where you are seeing you know already the impact of climate change. Both IFC and MIGA of which I've spoken about earlier have also developed climate change strategies and incorporating that aspect into their business plans so there are a number of new and innovative financing mechanisms like the climate investment fund the forest carbon partnership facility which are really catering if you wish to climate change issues so I guess enclosing some sort of final thoughts on the bank after my tenure of now seven months I think the bank is really stepping up to the plate in terms of global development challenges I think that it is still an absolute premier institution when it comes to knowledge on development issues the level of commitment and expertise that I have found everywhere from a geographic point of view from a functional thematic point of view is is frankly extremely impressive the bank is very well aware that we are no longer in a world where all the solutions are necessarily going to come from the north towards the south there is a real interest and and necessity to look at the experience of the south and take that experience that experience to other countries in the south we call it the the south south transfer of knowledge innovation is obviously going to be absolutely key on a forward basis I know that we speak of innovation all the time but innovation and development is also absolutely critical I have spoken of partnerships absolutely central I have said it I think that in as much as development global development is is truly a challenge that is huge it cannot be resolved only by one institution so partnership absolutely important on on a way forward I I think it would be I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that the one thing also that we need to be very very aware of is that voice is is critical we we deal of course with with governments and the programs at the bank we we devise we construct we design the country assistance strategies very much as a result of a dialogue with governments but we also do very broad consultations with with other elements in the countries where we where we work and the president has spoken a lot recently about the importance of reaching out to civil society to the importance of reaching out to to citizens and the work that we do is certainly spoken about that a lot in the context of of the Middle East and North Africa how you need to to give a voice and listen to the to the many voices in fact and is I think it was in the Patterson Institute speech he concluded and I have a little quote from him here that 2011 might well be the year we learned that civic participation matters to development and that in addition to regimes or governments something more has has changed which I thought was was a very interesting way of concluding his speech so I thought that I should perhaps conclude my little address here this way so I hope that I have given you died the impression that a i'm very enthusiastic about my my tenure b that I fundamentally believe that what we do matters hugely see that the bank is is a very relevant and extremely competent institution in this regard and that there is a role for Ireland to play in this architecture and and within the bank and it's a great pleasure for me to have a chance to talk about these issues with you today thank you very much indeed