EIC Delegation at CICA/World Bank Meeting in Washington
CICA/World Bank Meeting: The EIC delegation met with various European decision-makers in the World Bank Group.
This year’s discussion between the global construction umbrella federation, CICA, and the World Bank's Infrastructure and Procurement Departments focused on various important subject matters, such as the future infrastructure “pipeline” of the World Bank for the Financial Years 2009-2011 (the so-called “Sustainable Infrastructure Action Plan” - SIAP), the concerns of the global construction industry with respect to quality as well as relating to the social & environmental and ethical aspects of Bank-financed civil works, innovative forms of contract and, last but not least, the use of Country Systems in Procurement (“UCS”). The Chairman of the FIEC/EIC Working Group on "Ethics", Mr. Per Nielsen, took the opportunity to present the respective Position Paper of the European Construction Industry to the representatives of CICA and the Bank (see picture).
The World Bank's Director of the Infrastructure Department, Mr. Jamal Saghir, informed CICA representatives that the World Bank Group with its SIAP intends to grow its infrastructure business from around 41 billion US$ in the Financial Years 2004-2007 to between 59 and 72 billion US$ in the Financial Years 2009-2011 and thus to leverage additional resources between 110 and 150 billion US$. Since these figures were designed before the global financial crisis and since the World Bank's Economic Outlook for the near future (see PowerPoint) is rather sombre, the total volume of infrastructure investment spending might even go beyond these figures.
EIC’s presence in Washington, however, did not limit itself to participating in the CICA / World Bank Meeting but was utilised for further activities. Forn instance,
• EIC participated in the kick-off Meeting of the International Technical Advisory Group for the Pilot Programme on Country Procurement Systems;
• EIC met with the Executive Vice President & CEO of the International Finance Corporation (IFC);
• EIC informed senior advisors to European Directors at the Bank about the EIC Position on (1) Fair Competition under Bank-financed construction contract, (2) the Pilot Programme on Country Procurement Systems and, last but not least, (3) Ethics. The following 9 countries were represented in the meeting: France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom as well as the European Union;
• EIC participated in the farewell lecture titled “Governance, Crisis and the Longer View: Unorthodox Reflections on the New Reality” by the Director for the Governance & Anti-Corruption Programme of the World Bank Institute.