##dependent world will have a major influence on what the twenty - first century will be. this means that the solidity of our new architecture will crucially depend on the way in which, for the poorest countries, monetary and financial strategies, on the one hand, and poverty alleviation strategies, on the other hand, are made mutually reinforcing. poverty alleviation is chiefly, of course, the task of the world bank, the regional development banks and bilateral donors. among the latter, it is quite encouraging, indeed, to see the energy and enthusiasm with which the british minister for development - an mp from birmingham, as a matter of fact! - ms. clare short, is promoting the dac target of reducing by one half the proportion of the world ’ s population living in extreme poverty by 2015. 3 these objectives are ambitious, but they remain realistic, provided industrial countries join forces in stopping the present decline of development assistance and implement their agreed commitment to support, as needed, countries that truly own their national strategies for sustainable development. among the latter, i would agree that particular priority be given to post - conflict countries where we must join forces to give new chances to reconciliation, peace and development. obeying this same imperative of serving together peace and development, i would also suggest that the g - 7 / g - 8 warmly endorse mr. koffi annan ’ s recommendation to the african governments to reduce purchases of arms and munitions to 1½ percent of gdp and maintain zero growth on defense budgets for the next decade. industrial countries must play their full part in these efforts, and, here, i must share with you my anxiety. today ’ s silence on the crisis in official development assistance is profound and distressing. it means that africa, in particular, must rely chiefly for its economic progress on humanitarian compassion or the benefits of trade. this cannot suffice if human development is to be intensified and accelerated. yet, at the present juncture, the macroeconomic and structural successes of recent years, precisely in the context of imf - world bank supported programs, are creating an opportunity that is too good to miss. africa has found a way to advance from two decades of negative per capita growth to positive growth in more than forty of its countries. in i hope i am not revealing a state secret in telling you that she inscribed this on her christmas card! many african countries, a new generation of leaders is seriously concerned about the need for democratization

however, the information we have been able to piece together, suggest, that the current economic situation is also taking its toll on credit unions as more members face lay - offs and find it more difficult to pay their loans on time. in fact, sample data for credit unions ( and i should clarify that it is a relatively small sample ) suggest that delinquency ratios went up significantly in 2010. what ’ s more, it appears that many credit unions have not been vigorously addressing delinquency, for example, through adequate provisions or by writing off bad debts. i am also advised that some credit unions ( and not only the small credit unions ) may still not have recognized the importance of “ provisions ” or know how to provision. in some cases, it is not clear whether the boards of the credit unions are fully aware of the extent of the problem and thus, in fact, what may be happening is that dividend payouts are coming out of reserves. if that is so, this is certainly not good financial management. the other “ contextual ” development that i would like to refer to has to do with the credit unions ’ exposure in the unfolding clico situation. the information which is in the public domain indicates that 65 credit unions had investments amounting to close to $ 700 million in clico. that, in itself, is not my issue. what is the issue? it is that for some credit unions, bis central bankers ’ speeches the impairment of these investments would threaten their very viability. this suggests that, the management of these credit unions may not have properly assessed credit and investment risks and, through insufficient portfolio diversification, almost compromised the viability of their organizations. fortunately, it appears that satisfactory arrangements have been made to contain any systemic damage to the credit union sector. these two situations point to chronic challenges being faced by the credit union sector. you add to these the medium term outlook, in which economic recovery is expected to depend heavily on small business development, and you mix in the enhanced requirements of the new regulatory framework that is being proposed, and the prescription is for more and more diversified capacity enhancement, at both the individual and organizational level. permit me to expand on this theme. as you know better than i, what makes the credit union movement different from the banking sector is your founding principle – not for profit, not for charity but for service. the philosophy of “ people helping people ” is the cornerstone of your movement. this philosophy imposes on each