Accra, Sept. 16, GNA - Mr Robert Zoellick, World Bank Group President has observed that the time for muddling through was over and developing countries need to be responsible stakeholders in the world economy.
"They need to act on current problems while building for future challenges. They need to solve national issues towards shaping a healthy international system," he added.
A statement issued by the World Bank Office in Accra copied to Ghana News Agency said Mr Zoellick made the observation when speaking on the topic "Beyond Aid" at George Washington University in the US.
Mr Zoellick said the world needed to recognise the new realities, unimaginable in 1944 when the World Bank was created, and move to a global system that integrated developed and developing countries, innovation, private investment and 50 per cent of the world's population too often kept behind mostly women.
He said, Adapting to this new world is about recognising that we must all be responsible stakeholders now, using a term that was first applied in 2005 to China's emerging role in the global system".
Mr Zoellick noted that the time for muddling through was over, If we do not get ahead of events; if we do not adapt to change; if we do not rise above short-term political tactics or recognise that with power comes responsibility, then we will drift in dangerous currents".
"That is the lesson of history for all of us, developed and emerging economies alike," he stressed.
Mr Zoellick said the world had changed dramatically since 1944, when the Bretton Woods Institution was created for the global economy.
"Developing countries are no longer colonial dependencies but now take a growing share of the global economy, including South-South trade and knowledge inter-changes," he noted.
Mr Zoellick said, 93They are attaining a bigger say in how the world is run and providing development solutions to others, while remaining home to billions of poor people".
He said, The new normal will be no normal. The New Normal will be dynamic, not fixed with more countries rising and shaping the multilateral system. Some States may falter, too. The rising economies will be joining new networks in diverse combinations and changing patterns. These new networks are displacing the old hierarchies".
However, Mr Zoellick observed that developed countries had yet to fully recognise these shifts and still operated under 93a do what I say, not what I do" policy.
"They preached fiscal discipline as huge gaps yawned in their budgets. They advocate debt sustainability, but have debt levels at historic heights," he stated.
The World Bank Group President said, 93Developed countries are also not addressing their problems and this could drag the global economy down. European countries are resisting the obligations that come with a single currency, the Euro. Japan has resisted reforms that would retool her stalled economic model. The United States faced soaring debts but had yet to agree on an approach to cut the drivers of that debt".
He said, A world Beyond Aid' recognises that the old, hierarchical world is gone and has been replaced with a transformed set of relationships between developed and developing countries. It is a world in which good policy can be more important than money".
"The goal would not be charity, but a mutual interest in building mo= repoles of growth," he stated.
Mr Zoellick argued In a world Beyond Aid', sound G7 economic policies would be as important as aid as a percentage of GDP. In a world Beyond Aid', G-20 agreements on imbalances, on structural reforms, or on fossil fuel subsidies and food security, would be as important as aid as a percentage of GDP.
"In a world Beyond Aid', the advanced emerging markets would assist those behind with experience, open markets, investments, and new types of assistance".
He said For developing countries, 91Beyond Aid' means mobilising and leveraging domestic and savings transparently; encouraging strong citizen involvement along with good governance, openness and transparency; investing in people with education, strong safety net programmes, and making government institutions and officials deliver.
"Others are encouraging small businesses and private investment; investing in infrastructure to lay the foundations for future productivity gains; and it means investing in connectivity while gathering data and sharing information because good data and information will be at least as important as financial assistance".
At the international level, Mr Zoellick said 93It means multilateral innovation to forge progress on open trade and investment, access to energy, food security, competition in services, and climate change not always waiting for all to join, moving ahead where coalitions of progress are possible".
"It means using the multilateral system including the G-20 to look a new policy and financing possibilities with roles for all." he stated.
Mr Zoellick said An important part of Beyond Aid' is tapping the promise and power of women by eliminating gender inequality".
He said 93We will not realise the full potential of half of the world's population until globally we address the issue of equality; until countries, communities, and households around the world acknowledge women's rights and change the rules of inequality."
"Giving women the right to own land; run and operate a business; to inherit; greater earning power; greater control over resources within their households, boost children's health, increase girls education, could leverage entrepreneurship and economic productivity, and could take them closer to that world 91Beyond Aid'," Mr Zoellick added.
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