Minister of Finance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, who is also leader of his country's delegation to the joint annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB)currently being held in Washington, addressed yesterday's meeting in which he talked about the risks facing the global economy as a result of the exacerbating current financial crisis, stressing the need for concerted efforts to address its possible impact on every country in the world, especially developing countries, and pointing to the leading role that must be played by the developed countries in this field. He praised the efforts of the WB in helping developing countries, especially poor ones, to address the economic impact caused by rising food prices and energy, noting the efforts made by the WB in response to the "energy for the poor" initiative launched by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at Jeddah Energy conference, confirming the Kingdom's readiness to support these efforts particularly those aiming at meeting the energy needs of poor countries. On the other hand, the Saudi minister welcomed the serious consultations which led to forging the WB's new strategy for dealing with the repercussions of climate change, stressing that it is important that such growing interest in climate change issues should not have negative repercussions on the priorities of growth boosting and poverty reduction in developing countries and that it is also important to see coordination with the international concerned organizations, and respect for the concluded international charters and conventions. --More
