Over 10,000 for Singapore IMF and WB Annual Meeting

More than 10,000 people will converge in Singapore on September 19 and 20 for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Annual Meetings against a backdrop of Asian economic recovery and the increasing need to scale up development assistance, especially in Africa.

Delegations from 184 IMF and Bank member countries will formally consider strategies on governance, clean energy, trades and education.

The meetings are expected to stimulate discussion on a host of issues, including the need to lift millions out of poverty in Asia, Africa and Latin America through results-driven, sustainable development.

Traditionally held in Washington, DC two years out of three, the Annual Meetings this year are being hosted by a country that went from developing to developed in one generation as 250 million people in Asia emerged from poverty in the last decade.

The economic growth of Asia and its impact on other developing regions is the subject of at least two Bank publications introduced during the Meetings.

The publications on governance, middle income countries, clean energy, trade and education will be reviewed by the 24-member joint Bank-IMF Development Committee, which sets policy on critical development issues and advises on financial resources required to promote economic development in developing countries.

The Annual Meetings also offer member countries, non-governmental and civil society organisations, members of the private sector and others a chance to get together and exchange views.

Past meetings have resulted in major decisions and initiatives, such as the Heavily Indebted Poor Country program in the late 1990s and the decision to put a stronger emphasis on anticorruption efforts in 1996.

The Bank and IMF will hold a forum for 350 civil society representatives and a number of seminars offering opportunities to discuss issues ranging from domestic petroleum pricing to managing Asia's megacities with Bank staff.