Sachs argues for transparency
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As the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector lending arm, continues the reviews of its sustainability policy, performance standards and disclosure policy, Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University has warned of the importance of transparency and public accountability in the extractive industries. Sachs, speaking at the Civil Society Forum of the Bank annual meetings in October, asserted that resource dependent countries need conditions that allow greater contract transparency in order to ensure that extractive industry projects are converted into sustainable development. He used the Bank-financed Chad-Cameroon pipeline (see Update 53) as a central motif in his argument, linking its developmental failures to poor contract transparency.
