Terrie O’Leary
Executive Director for Canada
World Bank
1818 H Street
Washington D.C.

12 July, 2000

Dear Ms. O’Leary,

I am writing to express our pleasure that the Board of Directors of the World Bank has cancelled its support for the Qinghai component of the Western China Poverty Reduction Project. This cancellation sends a much needed signal, following the approval of the Chad-Cameroon Oil and Pipeline project, that the Board will work to ensure that the World Bank accountability mechanisms are used to screen out projects that cannot meet even its own participatory, sustainable development standards.

The Halifax Initiative has been working over the past years to strengthen the Inspection Panel and the safeguard policies of the Bank, with the help of your office. Your interventions at the Board meeting last week reflect our shared vision of an accountable World Bank that believes in meaningful consultation and the protection of local communities and the environment.

Although the campaign around this project has been broadly-based and international in scope, it is important to remember that the people living in Dulan have not had a voice at the table. It is in their interests and in the interests of similar disempowered groups of people in countries around the world, that rules governing institutions such as the World Bank are put into place.

Sincerely,

Pamela Foster
Coordinator
cc. The Hon. Paul Martin, Minister of Finance