WB to Move Forward with Measures Benefiting Development Countries

Anchor: Good Afternoon, Mr. Steer.

Andrew Steer: Good Afternoon!

Anchor: The United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Durban, South Africa, from November 28 to December 9 this year. So, could you please introduce what role will the World Bank play in the climate change conference in Durban?

Andrew Steer: Well, the World Bank will be going to the Durban conference，because we regard it and all of the UNFCCC meetings we see it has every year, we regard it as a good opportunity to move forward the debate.

We are working for all developing countries as well. And developing countries urgently need a global deal of climate. But they are not waiting for it. They are getting on with it. A Country like China is clearly moving ahead in addressing climate change. And 130 countries have now asked the World Bank to help them. So, we go to Durban later on this month, because we are trying to help move forward various issues that we think would be beneficial for developing countries. So, for example, we are working on the issue of carbon markets, for example. We believe very strongly that the carbon markets have a useful role to play.

We are concerned that with the end of the Kyoto Protocol - at the end of 2012 - carbon markets may suffer even further from where they are -- already carbon prices have fallen a lot. So, we can perhaps play a role in trying to move forward that debate.

Similarly, we are working on agriculture. So far, the convention hasn’t really addressed agriculture very well. We think that’s a mistake, because our client countries need some help on agriculture. So, we are hoping to move that forward.

So, there’s a range of issues, and what we would often do is put on events with heads of state and ministers that would try and highlight really important things. Highlight the world of action, trying to bring the world action into the world negotiation. So, that is what we will be doing there.