The 2017 Annual Meetings were held from October 9-15 in the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington, DC. On October 10-11, the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank & IMF organized the Parliamentary Workshop – the event that was designed to bring together a small group of parliamentarians from both donor and recipient countries and was coorganized with the World Bank and the IMF. This year, 53 participants from 33 countries were present at the Workshop: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Latvia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Moldova, Morocco, Nigeria, Paraguay, Poland, Romania, Senegal, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe. Other participants included representatives from the International Assembly of the Francophonie, the PanAfrican Parliament, and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).
The main themes of this year’s Workshop covered the most pressing development issues of the decade and the objects of traditionally intense focus both on the part of the Parliamentary Network, the World Bank, and the IMF: the correlation of economic growth and job creation; inequality; climate change; private sector investment; fighting corruption; energy reforms; and investing in younger generations. Many of these discussions built on the previous dedicated sessions during the Global Parliamentary Conference which took place in April 2017, and introduced new approaches to tackling these universal challenges.
Check out the full report of this year's Parliamentary Workshop and its brief summary
See the list of participants
Read the workshop's agenda in English, French and Spanish
Look through the photos taken during the sessions
Browse through the speakers' presentations:
"Growth and Jobs", David Robalino, Manager of the Jobs Group, World Bank Group
"World Economic Outlook", Malhar Nabar, Deputy Division Chief, World Economic Studies Division, Research Department, IMF
"Globalization, Technology, and the Decline in the Labour Share of Income" - Mitali Das, Deputy Division Chief, External Sector Division, Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, IMF
"Learning to realize education's promise" - Deon Filmer, Lead Economist, Development Research Group, and Halsey Rogers, Lead Economist, Education Global Practice, World Bank Group
"Energy Subsidy Reform" - Baoping Shang, Senior Economist, Expenditure Policy Division, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF
"The Effects of Weather Shocks on Economic Activity: How Can Low-Income Countries Cope?" - Mico Mrkaic, Senior Economist, World Economic Studies Division, Research Department, IMF
"Building Resilience in Fragile States: Experiences from Sub Saharan Africa" - Mumtaz Hussein, Senior Economist, Institute for Capacity Development, IMF
"The World Bank Anti-Corruption Efforts and Sanctions System" - Merly M. Khouw, Lead Investigator, World Bank Group
"Country-Powered Investments for Every Woman, Every Child" - Dr. Mariam Claeson, Director, Global Financing Facility
"The World Bank Group's Citizen Engagement" - Naye Bathily, Head, Parliamentary Engagement, World Bank Group
Founded in 2000, the Parliamentary Network is an independent, non-governmental organization that provides a platform for Parliamentarians from over 140 countries to advocate for increased accountability and transparency in development cooperation. Jeremy Lefroy is the current Chair of the Parliamentary Network.
The Network – via its international secretariat, regional chapters and country chapters – reaches over 1000 Parliamentarians in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. It strives to increase transparency and accountability in the development cooperation process by fostering the oversight role of parliaments and civil society. The Network has a specific focus on multilateral aid and a sub-focus on the work and modus operandi of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the world’s largest multilateral funders.
It provides a platform for MPs and civil society to hold to account their own governments, as well as International Financial Institutions (IFIs), for development outcomes.
