The International Development Secretary attended the World Bank Spring Meetings over the weekend – where the UK helped push through major changes within the global lender.
Penny Mordaunt was in Washington D.C. to see the World Bank Group commit, as a result of UK lobbying, to focus significantly more of its resources on poorer countries. This will increase from 63% to 70% by 2030.
Other reforms the UK helped push through include the lender agreeing to make efficiency savings of $1.8bn by 2030, largely through capping pay.
Alongside the reforms package, the UK and other member nations agreed on Saturday to inject another $13bn in to the World Bank.
The UK is to commit more money around $547m of this over five years to the lender.
The Times interviewed Ms Mordaunt during her trip and reported how the Meetings had marked a “dramatic shift” in the aid landscape and represented a victory for Britain’s development goals.
It also reported how the International Development Secretary had welcomed the start of China’s transition from aid recipient to aid donor which is part of this shift.
On Saturday, Ms Mordaunt also took part in an event alongside World Bank President Jim Kim and philanthropist Bill Gates called: Building Human Capital.
This was about how countries need to invest in their most important asset – their own people.
The Huffington Post ran an op-ed on this event by the Secretary of State which can be read here.
Yesterday, the Secretary of State was on a panel alongside International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, which discussed the threat of corruption to global development.
The Guardian ran a piece on corruption today which featured quotes from both Ms Mordaunt and Ms Lagarde.