The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged all World Trade Organization (WTO) members on Sunday to step up their efforts to reach a successful conclusion to the Doha Round world trade talks by the end of this year.

In a communique issued after the meeting of the Joint Development Committee of the World Bank and the IMF, the committee said that implementation of the Doha Development Agenda is a critical complement to other efforts to increase economic growth and reduce global poverty.

The World Bank and the IMF welcomed a significant increase in donor commitments for aid for trade and creation of a task force in the WTO to make recommendations on how to operationalize aid for trade, recognizing that this is a complement not a substitute for a successful Doha Round.

The committee urged all WTO members, after modest progress at the Hong Kong ministerial meeting last December, to step up their efforts to end successfully the Doha Round by the end of 2006.

The bank and the IMF also said that members have agreed to explore ways to help developing countries enhance their access to affordable, sustainable and reliable modern energy services over the long run, while paying attention to local and global environmental considerations.

The communique once again called on all donor countries to fully implement the commitment they have made for substantial increase in aid volume and urged those donors that have not done so to make concrete efforts towards the target of 0.7 percent of their gross national income as official development aid in accordance with their commitments.

The World Bank and the IMF also said that Avian Influenza poses a major risk for all countries but more particularly for developing countries and called for continued coordination and planning by countries and agencies at the international and regional levels.

The joint 2006 annual spring meeting of the IMF and the World Bank ended in Washington on Sunday.

Source: Xinhua