State Secretary Anne Stenhammer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is travelling to Singapore from 15 to 19 September to participate in the annual meeting of the World Bank and the meeting of the Development Committee.

Many NGO representatives have been denied permission to enter Singapore, and Norway is seeking to get the ban lifted. - We are taking this very seriously, and have submitted a protest against the decision to refuse NGO representatives entry, says Ms Stenhammer. - These organisations play an important role at the World Bank’s annual meetings, as both a dissenting voice and a watchdog that pressures the World Bank to do its best for the world’s poor.

The main topic for the Development Committee meeting is the World Bank’s new anti-corruption strategy. State Secretary Stenhammer will also be attending a series of meetings with World Bank representatives, representatives from other countries’ delegations, and civil society representatives, during which she will emphasise the need for greater efforts in relation to gender equality, children and young people, and the environment.

Ms Stenhammer will also stress that the World Bank should not impose privatisation and liberalisation as loan conditions. “We are working hard to prevent the World Bank making privatisation and liberalisation conditions for obtaining loans,” she says.

Gender equality is a high priority area for the Norwegian Government, and will be one of Ms Stenhammer’s main themes: “We have increased our support for gender equality through the World Bank, and we are seeing results. It looks like the issue will be included in the final declaration of the Development Committee, at Norway’s request,” she says.

The Finnish Minister of Finance will speak on behalf of Norway and the other countries of the Nordic-Baltic cooperation at the Development Committee meeting.

The press contact for State Secretary Stenhammer is Head of Information Roy Freddy Andersen (mob. 90 61 05 30).