JAPAN: The head of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim says he plans to dedicate himself to helping fragile and conflict-affected nations

Record ID: 466666

  • Title: JAPAN: The head of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim says he plans to dedicate himself to helping fragile and conflict-affected nations
  • Date: 12th October 2012
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (OCTOBER 11, 2012) (REUTERS) POLICE CROSSING THE ROAD SIGN READING: "2012 TOKYO ANNUAL MEETING INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND, WORLD BANK GROUP" SECURITY AROUND THE MEETING VENUE MORE OF SECURITY TOKYO, JAPAN (OCTOBER 11, 2012) (IMF POOL) WORLD BANK GROUP SIGN AT NEWS CONFERENCE WORLD BANK GROUP PRESIDENT JIM YONG KIM ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE REPORTERS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD BANK GROUP PRESIDENT JIM YOUNG KIM SAYING: "It's our job to be a catalytic effect on poverty. The good news is that around the institution, the World Bank Group, the answer has been a very strong yes. We can bend the arch of history." REPORTER ASKING A QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD BANK GROUP PRESIDENT JIM YONG KIM SAYING: "Deep frustration over our relative inability to lift fragile and conflict-affected states out of fragility. So, I am going to make this a special part of my presidency. We're going to move forward with much urgency, great sense of urgency, of finding ways of lifting countries out of the state of fragility." ANOTHER REPORTER ASKING A QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD BANK GROUP PRESIDENT JIM YONG KIM SAYING: "The climate scientists have declared that the drought that happened this past summer, that contributed in the rise of food prices, was the result of man-made climate change. Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that man-made climate change is real. As a person trained in science, that is almost a frightening amount of unanimity. There are very few things in medicine, as a physician, that we agree 97 percent on." REPORTERS ASKING QUESTIONS (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD BANK GROUP PRESIDENT JIM YONG KIM SAYING: "I think we have to begin looking hard at what the world is going to look like for our children. I have a three-year-old son. And when I really dug into the data, when my three-year-old son is my age, he could be possibly living in a completely different world." KIM AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) WORLD BANK GROUP PRESIDENT JIM YONG KIM SAYING: "Can we find ways of creating an enormous market for new technologies focused on mitigation of climate change? I think we simply must do it. So you are going to be hearing from me over the next six months and over the entire term of my presidency, you are going to hear me talk a lot about climate change. REPORTERS KIM LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 27th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: International Relations,Economy
  • Reuters ID: LVA2AVV6T50C7RBE0HD1LR7SA89G
  • Story Text: Head of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim says he plans to dedicate himself to helping fragile and conflict-affected nations.
    At a news conference ahead of the annual IMF meeting in Tokyo, Jim said he wants the World Bank to make a difference in countries where there remains a "deep frustration" over the World Bank's impact so far.
    "It's our job to be a catalytic effect on poverty. The good news is that around the institution, the World Bank Group, the answer has been a very strong yes. We can bend the arch of history," he said
    "(There is) deep frustration over our relative inability to lift fragile and conflict affected states out of fragility. So, I am going to make this a special part of my presidency. We're going to move forward with much urgency, great sense of urgency, of finding ways of lifting countries out of the state of fragility," Jim added Jim also vowed to dedicate much of his term to tackling climate change.
    "The climate scientists have declared that the drought that happened this past summer, that contributed in the rise of food prices, was the result of man-made climate change. Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that man-made climate change is real. As a person trained in science, that is almost a frightening amount of unanimity. There are very few things in medicine, as a physician, that we agree 97 percent on," he told reporters in Tokyo.
    "I think we have to begin looking hard at what the world is going to look like for our children. I have a three year old son. And when I really dug in to the data, when my three year old son is my age, he could be possibly living in a completely different world," Jim added.
    The president of the World Bank said it was imperative to have new innovations to deal with climate change.
    "Can we find ways of creating an enormous market for new technologies focused on mitigation of climate change? I think we simply must do it. So you are going to be hearing from me over the next six months and over the entire term of my presidency, you are going to hear me talk a lot about climate change," he added.
    Jim was nominated by U.S. President Barack Obama before being elected and officially taking up his position as the 12th World Bank president on July 1, 2012.
    A Korean-American physician and anthropologist, he is the first World Bank leader not to come from a diplomatic or political background.
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