Washington DC (USA), April 10-14, 2023 – For the first time since COVID, the World Bank and IMF organized their Spring Meetings in person at the World Bank Headquarters. PAM was represented by Hon. Centemero (Italy), President of the PAM 2nd Standing committee and PAM Vice-President.
The Spring Meeting is one of the most important events of the World Bank and IMF, and a crucial appointment in the international economic agenda. This year, the event addressed the theme “Tough Challenges, Tougher Choices”.
At the onset of the conference, the World Bank and IMF organized their Global Parliamentary Forum (GPF).
The GPF gathered more than 300 parliamentarians from over 60 countries, leaders from civil society, partner organizations and high-level representatives of international financial institutions.
The Forum started with an interactive dialogue among MPs, the World Bank President, David Malpass and the IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva.
The Meeting was also the occasion for the IMF to present the latest World Economic Outlook Report, and to address the main global economic challenges with key international experts, including, among others, Dr. Schady, Chief Economist for Human Development at the World Bank and Dr. Indermit Gill, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group.
The Meeting focused its recommendations on the need of a comprehensive institutional reform of the global financial architecture, while addressing the urgency to advance on the “Zero Hunger” Goal and scale up financial efforts to climate adaptation.
Hon. Centemero was a panelist in the first session of the Forum on the “Opportunities and Challenges on the Road to a Greener Recovery”. In his intervention, he analyzed the unprecedented challenges posed by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Climate Emergency and the great decoupling process, while recalling PAM’s actions vis-à-vis these crises.
Hence, he recalled the first edition of the Euro-Mediterranean and Gulf Economic Forum, which PAM organized in Marrakesh in December 2022, as a concrete opportunity for policymakers to foster economic, financial and commercial integration in the regions, while praising the contribution of key Multilateral Financial Institutions to the Forum, including the World Bank and IMF.
In addition, he stressed the need to foster Global Development Finance efforts for Emerging Economies, and the role of development institutions, such as the World Bank, in supporting the stabilization of countries like Tunisia. Within this scope, Hon. Centemero also participated in the roundtable on the economic update and the discussion on food security organized by the World Bank’s MENA Region Office.
Finally, he recalled the absolute urgency to move forward on the international climate negotiations and to transform climate pledges into actions, while reminding that PAM is already working with the UAE Presidency of the COP28 and WTO to support the parliamentary dimension of the conference, to address the relations between international trade and climate change at the forthcoming COP.//