These steps, if taken, would move in directions the Commission advocated. Also, we can hope that the current turmoil within the Bank may bring bona fide reform. I believe a performance audit and a management audit would improve information about the Bank, its ineffectiveness and inefficiencies, thereby making reform more likely. These audits would help the donor countries to understand why the Bank has been relatively ineffective in alleviating poverty in the poorest countries. Real progress will not occur without organizational restructuring to increase performance incentives for the Bank's staff and within the client countries.
Poverty reduction is difficult and challenging.
The Commission has no illusion that it will be done quickly. But, we believe that very little will be achieved without major reforms of the type we proposed, reforms that introduce incentives for the countries to decide to make and maintain the necessary changes. Final Comments I would like to use my few remaining minutes to comment on the reception that the Commission's proposals have received outside the United States. In the past year, I have traveled and spoken about the report in Belgium, Canada, Central America, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, and the U.K., in addition to the United States. In each of these countries, and with representatives of the French and Italian central banks, the Bank for International Settlements, the European Central Bank, and the European Union, I spoke with official representatives.