World Council of Churches, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to continue dialogue - first encounter "historic" 

At the end of a two-day seminar, the World Council of Churches, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have identified four areas of concern that will be addressed in a series of gatherings beginning later this year.

The agreed themes are:
• the challenges of globalization;

• participation of the people in development, such as in Poverty Reduction Programmes and in debt resolution;
• the respective roles of the state and public and private sectors in development and poverty reduction efforts;
• and institutional governance and accountability, with regard to equity, justice and the distribution of wealth.

"This encounter was historic, because it began a process of dialogue and of common challenge," commented Aruna Gnanadason, Coordinator of the WCC's team on Justice, Peace and Creation. This first step in the process "brought to the fore the urgency for reflections on the context of economic globalization and the grave inequalities in our world", Gnanadason said.

Konrad Raiser, General Secretary of the WCC, noted in a letter addressed to seminar participants, "Many among the constituency of the WCC would question the wisdom and purpose of such a dialogue." He said, the seminar had brought together partners "who have so far had very little opportunity to talk face to face", and had created "a space where the difficult issues concerning the sustainability of the global human community can be faced with respect for the integrity of one another's convictions and commitments".

While the WCC's contribution to this dialogue has always been "informed by the insight and advice of competent experts", it has sought primarily "to articulate the voice of those who have little opportunity of influencing the decisions but have to bear their consequences", Raiser said. The WCC has tried in this way to give the dialogue "the human face which is a central focus of the present discussion".

Information : Colleen Hodge - Education and Public Relations, Christian World Service - The National Council of Churches in Australia
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