Annual Meetings Focus on Governance and Growth

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September 12, 2006 – More than 10,000 people will converge in Singapore September 19 and 20 for the International Monetary Fund 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, trade, and education.

But 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.

Major reports include:

• Governance and Anticorruption Strategy—mapping out how the Bank will work with partner governments, other multilateral and bilateral organizations, civil society and the press to strengthen anticorruption and governance efforts.
• Worldwide Governance Indicators Update—in a survey of 216 countries on six criteria including political stability, rule of law, and government effectiveness.
• Education Fast Track Initiative Progress Report—on a global initiative to send 100 million poor children to school by 2015, and the funding needed to achieve this goal
• World Development Report 2007—on the record number of young people between 12 and 24—1.3 billion—living in developing countries and the opportunities and challenges they present.
• Bank Assistance to Middle Income Countries—a report to the Development Committee on strengthening the Bank’s technical and financial assistance in richer developing nations.
• Clean Energy for Development Progress Report—on the steps needed to achieve environmentally sustainable electricity development, particularly in Africa, to transition to a lower-carbon economy, and to adapt to climate change.
• Doha Round and Aid for Trade Progress Report—on recent developments in world trade talks and mechanisms for cross-country and regional aid for trade.  
• Africa’s Silk Road—a new book on Africa as China’s and India’s new economic frontier.

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 organizations, 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.