Remarks as prepared for delivery : World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim at the annual meeting plenary session

The World Bank Group has long-standing experience in designing more effective social protection programs, improving investment climates, and identifying pro-growth public investments. As a global Bank, we stand ready to offer our knowledge and technical assistance wherever we are asked to do so, including in high income countries that are undergoing economic reforms. Middle income countries are searching for new solutions to a different set of challenges. Many of these economies have grown rapidly in recent years. And yet, as we all recognize, the strategies they used to thrive in the past may not be appropriate for the challenges ahead. These include ensuring the participation of poor people in the growth process; closing infrastructure and energy deficits; enacting second-generation policy reforms; and embracing their roles as responsible and generous stakeholders in the global system. In the 68 years since its founding, the World Bank Group has continuously evolved with a changing world. It was originally a 'reconstruction bank,’ focused on rebuilding Europe after World War II. Under Robert McNamara it became a 'lending bank', extending funding for poverty reduction in developing countries. Under Jim Wolfensohn, the Bank transformed again into a ‘knowledge bank’, expanding the institution’s own understanding of the development process and its role in promoting inclusive development.