In non-crisis times, the World Bank's most important objective is poverty reduction, which is attained through sustained growth and institution building. While the World Bank can provide financing, injections of money alone are not enough to resolve deeper structural problems. Legal, judicial, and financial systems, all of which support a working market system, must be developed as part of a comprehensive market infrastructure. Mr. Kawai emphasized that this process of institution building takes time, and requires the support of a coalition of development partners, including other multilateral development banks, bilateral donors, and national governments themselves. Japan must undergo structural adjustments, and take measures to end the remnants of crony capitalism that are still at work there.
International organizations are limited in what they can accomplish.
It is up to national governments to undertake internal reforms and structural adjustments in order to foster continuing growth. As Mr. Fisher points out, Thailand and Indonesia's membership in the WTO did not prevent the financial crisis from sweeping through those countries.