wfn.org | WCC NEWS Kobia: Critical engagement w/Bretton Woods

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches - Update
Contact: + 41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org 
For immediate release - 22/10/2004

WCC ENCOUNTERS BRETTON WOODS INSTITUTIONS:
THROUGH CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT, MAKING SURE THE CRIES 
OF THE PEOPLE MOST AFFECTED ARE HEARD

			    Free high resolution photo available, see below

Recalling the World Council of Churches' (WCC) foundational mandate to make
"the church in every place a voice for those who have no voice" as well as
its firm commitment to justice, rooted in the "ecumenical perception of
God's preferential option for the poor," WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia
affirmed encounters with the Bretton Woods institutions as a "critical
engagement in the search for viable pathways towards global justice, so
that all people can have their fair share in the common wealth of all".

"Through mutual listening and dialogue, we have reached a basis of
understanding which allows the WCC and the IMF and World Bank to engage
together on areas of mutual concern and identify areas of disagreement,"
Kobia commented after a breakfast meeting at WCC headquarters with World
Bank (WB) president James D. Wolfensohn and International Monetary Fund
(IMF) deputy managing director Agustmn Carstens. The meeting prepared the
encounter of representatives of the three institutions to be held this
afternoon at the same venue; the encounter is expected to produce a Joint
Statement and will be followed by a press conference (see programme below).

Anticipating his planned remarks for the afternoon's discussions, Kobia
also highlighted the Council's concern to put people at the centre of
economic development. "For us, it is essential to listen to the cries of
the people in order to achieve a new, just, global order," he stressed.

When listening to those cries, including those coming from the growing
number of inhabitants of the "global South" within the Council's
constituency, certain concrete concerns, among them the international debt,
can be clearly heard. "Since millions have borne the social, political and
ecological costs of the tenacious cycle of debt, the churches understand
themselves to have been called to seek effective ways of breaking the
stranglehold of debt, to redress its consequences and to ensure that
subsequent debt crises will not recur," Kobia stated.

Recognizing that "the World Bank's vision of a poverty-free world resonates
well with a substantial portion of the Council's analysis," Kobia also
manifested the concern that "poverty 'reduction', rather than eradication,
is a trickle-down approach to development that implies that some people are
expected to remain poor".

The Council is also "troubled by assumptions of growth without limit, and
neglect of the ramifications of growth as regards issues of equity and the
ecology," and it  remains "profoundly concerned about the issue of human
rights and justice in regard to the acknowledgment of voices and
apportionment of votes in the governing bodies of the Bretton Woods
institutions," Kobia added.

Manifesting his gratitude for the "openness to honest dialogue that the IMF
and the World Bank have shown in the process," Kobia expressed the hope
that the dialogue may continue since "there is still a great deal that each
of us can learn".

>>> This afternoon's meeting, which ends with a press conference, 
is open to the press provided advance accreditation is requested. 
See the programme at: 
http://www2.wcc-coe.org/pressreleasesen.nsf/index/pr-04-49.html 

>>> High-resolution photos of the encounter are available on our website at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/jpc/wcc-wb-imf2004.html 

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153  +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in more
than 120 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
cooperatively with the WCC. The highest governing body is the assembly,
which meets approximately every seven years. The WCC was formally
inaugurated in 1948 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.