The delegation will participate in an annual three-day series of International Monetary Fund / World Bank seminars, which are slated to begin on Saturday.
The delegation will be arriving at a seminar that has already made headlines, even before its official kick-off. In his first 15 months at the helm of the international lending institution, World Bank president, Paul D. Wolfowitz, has ruffled feathers by shelving loans to poorer nations, where millions of dollars have been lost to various forms of corruption, the New York Times reported yesterday.
Critics of Wolfowitz’s campaign against corruption point out that a suspension of the loans hits the countries deepest in need the hardest. The Times quoted Wolfowitz’s response stating, “The bank’s mission was ‘to send children to school, to help mothers be healthier, to provide jobs for poor people.'”
As Mr Smith and Ms Craigg were in transit to Singapore, they were unavailable to comment on the topics of particular interest to Bahamians. Numerous calls to the secretary of revenue, Ehurd Cun-ningham, whom sources say was in a position to outline the delegation’s priorities, were not returned.
This year’s series of seminars will focus on reforming financial markets in Asia and the Indian sub-continent, in line with the organisation’s mission of eliminating world poverty, according to a press release from the World Bank.
According to the World Bank’s online archives, The Bahamas has been a member nation since August of 1973, making it the 123rd of 184 member nations.
By: Samuel Smith, The Nassau Guardian
