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FINANCE Minister Dr. Ashni Singh has again called on the international community and multilateral institutions to pay more urgent attention to the peculiar development challenges faced by small states, and the task of devising viable approaches to overcoming these challenges. 
He made the call while attending the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the IMF and World Bank group in Tokyo, where Finance Ministers from around the world are gathered to confront and debate the pressing economic and financial issues confronting the global community.
In remaking the call, which he has made on several occasions previously, Minister Singh drew attention to the extensive work that has already been done in terms of defining the challenges faced by such states, but lamented the absence of a commensurate effort at crafting practical and feasible solutions.
He made the point that there is no need for the international community to spend any further resources on ascertaining whether small states are vulnerable, since this is a well-known fact within the entire international community, particularly the policymakers and the citizens of small states themselves.
What would be of greater value, he suggested, is if more efforts were expended on designing a development model and development support instruments geared to respond to the challenges which are already well known.
And while he welcomed the convening of a special committee of the IMF Executive Board to spearhead a small states initiative in response to a call he and others had made last year, and commended the World Bank Group for its support to the small states forum, Dr Singh could not help but emphasise that clear and observable outcomes must be defined for these initiatives, if they are to be effective.
While at the Tokyo meetings, the minister also participated in the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting, at which forum he repeated his call for urgent action on the plight of small states.
He urged the Commonwealth to examine where it had the greatest value-added, in light of the diversity of its membership, and the fact that the organisation enjoys what can understandably be described as first-mover’s-advantage when it comes to small-state issues, given the work it has already done on this subject.
While in Tokyo, too, Minister Singh also met with IDB President, Mr Luis Alberto Moreno, and seized the opportunity to restate the government’s appreciation of the support provided by the IDB to Guyana’s development efforts, making special reference to the Amaila Falls hydropower project which is in an advanced state of preparation, and conveyed his government’s appreciation of the work currently being done by the Bank in support of this project.
Minister Singh is Guyana’s representative on the Board of Governors of the IMF and the World Bank, and also chaired the 2007 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting.
At the Tokyo meetings, the minister is accompanied by Bank of Guyana Governor, Mr Lawrence Williams, and Chief Planning Officer, Mr Clyde Roopchand. (GINA)
He made the call while attending the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the IMF and World Bank group in Tokyo, where Finance Ministers from around the world are gathered to confront and debate the pressing economic and financial issues confronting the global community.In remaking the call, which he has made on several occasions previously, Minister Singh drew attention to the extensive work that has already been done in terms of defining the challenges faced by such states, but lamented the absence of a commensurate effort at crafting practical and feasible solutions.
He made the point that there is no need for the international community to spend any further resources on ascertaining whether small states are vulnerable, since this is a well-known fact within the entire international community, particularly the policymakers and the citizens of small states themselves.
What would be of greater value, he suggested, is if more efforts were expended on designing a development model and development support instruments geared to respond to the challenges which are already well known.
And while he welcomed the convening of a special committee of the IMF Executive Board to spearhead a small states initiative in response to a call he and others had made last year, and commended the World Bank Group for its support to the small states forum, Dr Singh could not help but emphasise that clear and observable outcomes must be defined for these initiatives, if they are to be effective.
While at the Tokyo meetings, the minister also participated in the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting, at which forum he repeated his call for urgent action on the plight of small states.
He urged the Commonwealth to examine where it had the greatest value-added, in light of the diversity of its membership, and the fact that the organisation enjoys what can understandably be described as first-mover’s-advantage when it comes to small-state issues, given the work it has already done on this subject.
While in Tokyo, too, Minister Singh also met with IDB President, Mr Luis Alberto Moreno, and seized the opportunity to restate the government’s appreciation of the support provided by the IDB to Guyana’s development efforts, making special reference to the Amaila Falls hydropower project which is in an advanced state of preparation, and conveyed his government’s appreciation of the work currently being done by the Bank in support of this project.
Minister Singh is Guyana’s representative on the Board of Governors of the IMF and the World Bank, and also chaired the 2007 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting.
At the Tokyo meetings, the minister is accompanied by Bank of Guyana Governor, Mr Lawrence Williams, and Chief Planning Officer, Mr Clyde Roopchand. (GINA)
