18:09 Preet Gill (Labour)

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. I congratulate the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield on his appointment, and I look forward to working with him. There is much that we agree on, but I will certainly still be on his case and hold him to account. I am grateful to him for outlining the draft International Development Association orders and I welcome the support they indicate for tackling poverty and disease, giving millions the opportunity of an education and tackling climate change in line with the Paris agreement.

Global co-operation has never mattered more: the world reels from the pandemic; we face energy, debt and food crises; the climate emergency is wreaking havoc; and 100 million people are now displaced around the world. Over the past 62 years, the International Development Association has provided nearly half a trillion dollars of investment in 114 of the world’s poorest countries. The technical assistance and grant and concessional finance that IDA provides has been vital for those countries, which are unable to borrow on global markets to develop their economies and lift their populations out of poverty. As a result, many borrower countries have since graduated from debt distress and gone on to be real success stories of the world. Our country can be proud of the role it has played in supporting that historic progress, where many hundreds of millions more human beings have been able to flourish and live good lives.

Finally, I was profoundly disappointed to read that the new Prime Minister has decided not to attend COP27 in Egypt as we hand over our presidency. It is a crucial opportunity to meet other global leaders, see to fruition some of the good work started in Glasgow last year, and galvanise ambitious global action to tackle the issue that will define this century. It is an issue we all have a common interest in fighting and something that this Government have called their No. 1 international priority. Can I ask the Minister if that remains the case? If so, will he accept ICAI’s recommendation to advocate for a stronger focus on climate action at IDA if the Government are to meet their own climate ambitions?

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18:20 Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)

Covid, conflict and climate change have had a desperate impact on the world’s poorest countries, and all have been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, which has pushed millions more people into poverty, hunger and starvation. However, against that backdrop, the World Bank does exceptional work for the world’s poorest. My biggest bugbear with the World Bank is not what it does, but the fact that it does not talk nearly enough about what it does—so many people should be so joyful about that great work. Not only do we have a uniquely strong voice as one of the largest shareholders in the World Bank, but we are one of the few that uses it. As such, I encourage my right hon. Friend to use that voice for the vulnerable in three different ways.

First, please encourage the World Bank and all multilateral development banks to look not only at immediate needs, but deeply at tackling the impact and causes of climate change. During my visit to Ethiopia two weeks ago, I saw how tempting it is to continue to fund day-to-day needs, but the needs of climate change are the biggest ones. It is the biggest issue that we face; if we do not get to grips with it, every other issue will continue to explode.

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