Welcome remarks by:
Nancy Bridsall, President, Center for Global Development
Carlos Lozada, Managing Editor, Foreign Policy
2004 Commitment to Development Index: Defining Global Leadership
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
MS. BIRDSALL: I'm Nancy Birdsall, the president of the Center
for Global Development. I'm very pleased to welcome you to this launch of the
second edition of the Commitment to Development Index. This is the techie
seminar, but it's also meant to be a seminar that brings to you the ideas and the
reactions of people who have played a role and are playing a role in the world
that makes policy.
Let me just say how proud I am of the Index and our staff and our
collaboration with Foreign Policy. This is an index which, in its first edition,
achieved much of what we hoped for it. It sparked debate, it educated people, it
helped create an agenda on what needs to be fixed in rich country policies to
make those countries more friendly to development. It created enough debate
about methods that we have done some changes, which my colleague David
Roodman will be explaining to you.
So we're awfully proud of it. It's an advocacy mechanism based
on research. It speaks very well for the center's overall mission of actionable
research to change the world, make it a better place ultimately for the world's
poor.
Let me turn the microphone over quickly to our partner in this
venture, Carlos Lozada, who's the managing editor of Foreign Policy.
MR. LOZADA: Thanks, Nancy.
As Nancy mentioned, I'm with Foreign Policy magazine, and I
want to say just briefly a word about the partnership between the Center for
Global Development and Foreign Policy.
I think the Commitment to Development Index is really a great
example of policy and intellectual entrepreneurship at its best. The inspiration of
the Index came out of a long-ago lunch between Nancy and our editor in chief,
Moisés Naím. And two years out, I think we can say very honestly that it's been
an incredibly fruitful and enriching partnership for both organizations and one
that really gets to the heart of what both institutions are trying to accomplish.
As you all know, CGD aims to reduce global poverty and
inequality through rigorous policy research and through equally rigorous
engagement with policymakers and with the public on issues of development.
And as I hope you also know, Foreign Policy is in the business of trying to
For transcripts of other speakers’ remarks, visit www.cgdev.org
explain how the world works, in particular how the process of global integration
is transforming nations and economies and cultures and our daily lives. So in
that sense, unpacking and exploring the challenges of development is really
central to the mission of both institutions.
Of course, we can talk about policies and economics and the
forces of development and globalization until we're all blue in the face, and it's
easy to forget that behind those sort of amorphous-sounding forces are, really,
individuals and organizations who are out there trying to make it happen. That is
why, along with the release of the Index each year, we also present an annual
Commitment to Development Award, which honors and individual or an
institution that is making a difference in how rich countries perceive poor
countries, and changing rich-country attitudes and policies toward developing
nations.
So I'd like to acknowledge one of our panelists today, Phil
Bloomer, who last night received the second annual Commitment to
Development Award for his work with the Make Trade Fair Campaign of Oxfam.
As you probably know, the Make Trade Fair Campaign aims to
improve the rules of the global trading system to help reduce poverty in
developing nations. So congratulations, Phil, and we thank you for sharing your
experiences with us.
I think we're ready to take off. David Roodman of the CGD,
who's the architect and the intellectual horsepower behind the Index, is going to
unveil the 2004 rankings as well as all the nitty-gritty methodology and technical
aspects behind the Index. Then our excellent panel today will help put those
results in context of the challenges they face on a day-to-day basis in promoting
global leadership on development.
For transcripts of other speakers’ remarks, visit www.cgdev.org