Wolfowitz offers hope for Africa

WASHINGTON — In his first day on the job, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said Wednesday he hoped the bank could help transform Africa from a continent of despair to one of hope.

He said that while other parts of the world — Asia, the former Soviet Union and Latin America — make economic and political progress, “we cannot have a large part of the world with 600 million people left behind and sinking.”

Starting a five-year term at the helm of the 184-nation lending institution, Wolfowitz said he hoped when he left office “We can say that this was a time when Africa went from being a continent of despair and poverty to a continent of hope.”

Wolfowitz chose as one of his first audiences an Africa advocacy group that includes non-governmental organizations, opinion leaders and business groups working to end poverty in Africa and expand trade and private investment. Several African ambassadors were among those listening.

He said it cannot be a good thing for those privileged to live in wealthy countries “to have a large part of the world left behind in the kind of misery and suffering that the people of Africa experience.”

To help Africa develop, Wolfowitz said, requires a plan that combines development assistance, foreign private investment, the development of the private sector and progress in trade talks so Africans can sell what they produce on world markets.