Zedillo appointed to Chair High Level Commission for Reform

							Zedillo appointed to Chair High Level Commission for Reform
                       of World Bank
For Immediate Release
Contact: Haynie Wheeler (203) 432-1904
Haynie.wheeler@yale.edu


New Haven, October 7, 2008 – Ernesto Zedillo, Director of the Yale Center for the
Study of Globalization, will chair a new High Level Commission to explore ways in
which the World Bank can operate more effectively, efficiently, dynamically and
legitimately in a transformed global political economy.

World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, made the announcement in a speech on Monday
at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Speaking just days
ahead of the Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group, Mr. Zoellick said that the
multilateral system needs a fundamental overhaul and that the global financial crisis is
pushing many developing countries toward a tipping point.

The World Bank Group, he said, “must also adapt more quickly to meet new needs of its
clients and interests of its shareholders. We need to better align our governance with the
realities of the 21st Century.” He noted that in 1944 at Bretton Woods, the founding
fathers of economic multilateralism took that moment to build a better future. “We must
be no less ambitious today.”

“I am delighted that Ernesto Zedillo has agreed to lead this work. I have asked Ernesto to
work with colleagues looking at governance issues at the IMF,” stated Zoellick in his
speech.

The Yale Center for the Study of Globalization is devoted to examining the impact of our
increasingly integrated world on individuals, communities, and nations. The Center aims
to bridge the gap between the worlds of academia and public policy and is particularly
focused on practical policies to enable the world’s poorest and weakest citizens to share
in the benefits brought by globalization.

As part of the Globalization Center’s effort to connect Yale and the policy world,
Director Zedillo has served on a range of international commissions. He has chaired,
among others, a Commission to make recommendations on the future of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (2007-08); the Partnership for the Americas Commission (2007-
present) examining common challenges for the U.S. and Latin America and offering
recommendations on how those challenges might be met; and the Global Development
Network (2005-present), a worldwide network of research and policy institutes that share
and generate knowledge about development in and for developing countries. He serves
on, among others, the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and
Disarmament (2008-2010); the Commission on Growth and Development (2006-08)
making recommendations to leaders of developing countries for rapid and sustained
economic growth and poverty reduction; the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the
Poor (2005-08) aiming to make legal protection and economic opportunity not the
privilege of the few but the right of all; and the Club de Madrid’s High Level Task Force
on Climate Change (2006-2008).