Washington, DC – International Financial Corporation(IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, is currently undertaking updates of two core policies related to its leadership in setting the benchmark for global sustainability. IFC’s Safeguard Policies and Disclosure Policy are being reviewed concurrently with the aim of incorporating best practice, evolving the standards as relevant to private sector operations, clarifying issues and ensuring comprehensive coverage. To facilitate these reviews, IFC plans to engage in a collaborative and transparent process and actively seek expertise and input from the full spectrum of stakeholders, including clients, governments, communities and civil society.

The Safeguard Policy update will be in two stages. From February to June 2004, IFC will be seeking outside experts’ views on specific and substantive issues and asking its Board of Directors for their input. The second stage will involve wide-ranging public consultations with stakeholders on the proposed framework and details of the policies.

The Disclosure Policy review currently aims to have a draft policy ready for consideration by IFC’s Board of Directors by the end of fiscal year 2004. As part of the review process, comments on the IFC’s existing Policy on Disclosure of Information are now sought.

For information on the Safeguard Policy review and the Disclosure Policy review, please go to http://www.ifc.org/policyreview. This site has been established to disseminate information and facilitate online submission of comments for both reviews.