World Bank Chief To Lobby G7 On Funds For Education
By Joseph Rebello, Dow Jones Newswire 6/12/2002

Wolfensohn said Wednesday he will lobby finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrial nations to allocate funds for a bank project aimed at ensuring that all children in poor countries get access to primary education by 2015. G7 finance ministers are meeting in Halifax , Canada , over the weekend.

"I will be going to Halifax to explain to them the importance of stepping forward," Wolfensohn said at a press conference.

Rich countries, including the G7, provide only a tiny fraction of their incomes as aid to poor countries. They agreed last spring to increase their aid budgets, by about $12 billion a year. But they have yet to decide how the money should be spent.

The World Bank wants half of it to be used to fight AIDS  in Africa and an additional quarter to be earmarked for the bank's Education For All project. The bank said Wednesday that 18 poor countries are immediately eligible

for financing under that project. An additional five will receive technical help from the bank to become eligible.

The 18 countries are Albania , Bolivia , Burkina Faso , Ethiopia , Honduras , Gambia , Ghana , Guinea , Guyana , Mauritania , Mozambique , Nicaragua , Niger , Tanzania , Uganda , Vietnam, Yemen and Zambia . Those countries have national poverty-reduction strategies and specific plans to improve education, which made them eligible for bank assistance.

The bank will provide technical help to five other countries - India , Pakistan , Bangladesh , the Democratic Republic of Congo  and Nigeria - to ensure their eligibility for the education project.

Wolfensohn said he expects the G7 ministers to act on his recommendations. "It is a moment now for the G7 to go beyond rhetoric and indicate practical support for the program," he said. "I think it is likely to meet the test."

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