Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the amendment proposed by the hon. member for Surrey Central. We on this side of the House look most favourably on this hon. member's amendment.
There is no doubt whatsoever that economic inequalities and crises lie behind the great majority of the conflicts taking place just about everywhere in the world at this time.
It is not mere happenstance that the Bretton Woods institutions—the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank—came into being in the wake of the war.
Their founders realized in 1944 that solid economic foundations were needed if there was to be any solid peace.
The International Monetary Fund was created in order to prevent balance of payment crises by encouraging the harmonious operation of the international monetary system and world trade and supporting high levels of sustainable economic growth.
Similarly, the World Bank was given the task of reducing poverty and inequality by raising standards of living and promoting sustainable development in developing countries.
While the architects of Bretton Woods could not foresee the changes that would come about, the institutions they designed have nevertheless proven surprisingly adaptable to a changing economic environment.
These changes continue today. The recent wave of financial crises in the emerging markets is forcing the two institutions to reassess their respective policies and roles in order to reduce the risk and the impact of future crises and to intensify the fight against poverty and inequality.
Through the G-7, the G-20 and its membership in the two institutions, Canada contributes to the achievement of these objectives along with like-minded nations.
For example, the G-20, chaired by Canada's Minister of Finance, was set up in the fall of 1999 to give countries whose size or strategic importance confers on them an especially crucial role in the world economy greater voice in discussion on international financial matters.
The G-20 comprises the ministers of finance and governors of the central banks of 19 industrialized countries and emerging economies, representatives of the European Union, the central European bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and their policy committees.
The objective of the G-20 is to promote co-operation in order to achieve stable and lasting international economic growth for everyone's benefit.
The IMF has taken a number of important steps to better foresee, prevent and respond to crises of the type that have recently affected a number of emerging market countries. For example, in its surveillance activities the IMF is paying greater attention to issues such as external debt and liquidity management and the appropriateness of exchange rate regimes. The IMF has a key role to play in encouraging best practices and monitoring compliance in these areas.
The IMF is also contributing to the development of international codes and standards, particularly in the financial sector, and developing frameworks for monitoring and encouraging compliance through financial sector stability assessments and reports on the observance of standards and codes. These will help identify and address vulnerabilities in a country's financial and economic systems.
The IMF has also developed two new financing facilities to help countries and the international community respond to large scale financial crises: the supplemental reserve facility, which would be available to countries in crisis situations that could spill over to other countries, and contingent credit lines, which would be a precautionary line of defence that would be available to countries which are pursuing sound policies but are nonetheless vulnerable to contagion.
IMF programs and the sorts of adjustments they call for can only succeed if the poor and the most vulnerable in society are protected. The IMF is therefore placing a higher priority on the social aspects of adjustments.
In conjunction with the enhanced debt reduction scheme for heavily indebted poor countries and as part of its contribution to the global anti-poverty effort, the IMF replaced its concessional facility, the enhanced structural adjustment facility, with the more focused poverty reduction and growth facility. As a consequence, direct anti-poverty measures will play a central role in programs supported by the IMF, the World Bank and other lenders.
The World Bank, which has recently intensified its fight against poverty, is also helping countries to eliminate some of the root causes of war and conflict. In this respect the bank has proposed that country-specific poverty frameworks should be developed by national authorities in broad consultation with the private sector, NGOs, academics and other civil society organizations.
The key principles of the underlying framework are that poverty reduction strategies should be country-driven, oriented to achieving concrete results in terms of poverty reduction, comprehensive in looking at cross-sectoral determinants of poverty outcomes, and provide the context for action by various developing partners.
The wider involvement of stakeholders may lead to more open discussions on the causes of poverty, such as socio-economic inequalities, corruption and poor governance. It is hoped that such discussions may help bridge the differences between various groups that are divided along ethnic, religious and political grounds.
The bank also has a long history in post-conflict assistance. Indeed, it was established to support the reconstruction of Europe after World War II. Since then the bank has assisted countries all over the world in their post-conflict reconstruction efforts. More recently the bank has played a key role in co-ordinating international aid to Kosovo, Bosnia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the West Bank and Gaza.
In recent years operations in countries emerging from war have become a considerable proportion of the bank's portfolio. Excluding India and China, nearly a quarter of the International Development Association's—the bank's concessional lending facility—support is going to countries which have undergone or are emerging from conflict.
In the past much of the bank's post-conflict reconstruction work was concentrated on rebuilding physical infrastructure. However, the bank has increasingly broadened its focus to address wider needs in rebuilding social infrastructure, reconstructing institutional capacity and putting in place key economic reforms. In general, the bank's support is designated to facilitate a country's transition from conflict to peace.
The bank has also been involved in unique post-conflict elements, including de-mining, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants, and reintegration of displaced populations. For instance, the bank has supported demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants in countries such as Cambodia, Chad, Mozambique and Uganda, and reintegration of displaced populations in Azerbaijan, Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. It has been involved in post-conflict community development programs in Angola, Cambodia and Rwanda, and de-mining programs in Bosnia and Croatia.
I have much more to say, but I see that my time has expired.