IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings Focus on Clean Energy, Aid, Trade and Governance

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• Spring Meetings 2006

Related Information

• Schedule of Events
• Spring Meetings Briefing Center
• International Monetary Fund
• Debt Relief
• Education
• Governance & Corruption

April 18, 2006—The International Monetary Fund-World Bank Spring Meetings April 22-23 focus on ways to finance clean energy in developing countries, and the role of governance in meeting worldwide social, health, and economic goals.

These topics, as well as aid, trade, and debt relief, are on Sunday’s agenda for the 24-member joint Bank-IMF Development Committee—the body that sets policy on critical development issues and advises on financial resources required to promote economic development in developing countries.

Key reports and themes of the Spring Meetings include:

• Global Monitoring Report 2006, released April 20. The GMR measures progress toward United Nations Millennium Development Goals, such as halving extreme poverty and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, and calls for greater investment to help developing countries tackle corruption and improve governance.

• Investment Framework for Clean Energy and Development, released April 23. The report discusses the need to accelerate investment in clean energy so developing countries can meet energy demands for growth and poverty reduction in an environmentally sustainable way.

• A report on debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries, HIPC Initiative: List of Ring-Fenced Countries Potentially Eligible under the Initiative. The meetings provide an opportunity to discuss financing and implementation details of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative, which combines debt relief with increased financing. The Bank is on track to begin cancelling the debt of 17 heavily indebted poor countries on July 1.

• Education for All Fast Track Initiative. G7 finance ministers are expected to urge more countries to pledge funding for the initiative, which aims at speeding up educational assistance to developing countries to increase the number of children worldwide able to attend school.

• Trade. Discussions will focus on the need to complete Doha trade negotiations, seen by the Bank as an opportunity to help level the playing field for developing countries. Several key negotiators have suggested Doha may fail if agreements on agriculture and industrial goods are not reached by April 30.

Smaller in scale than the Annual Meetings (this year held in Singapore September 19–20), the Spring Meetings are attended by members of the Boards of Governors of the IMF and World Bank. The Boards comprise representatives from 184 member nations of the two organizations. Representatives are generally a country’s finance or development minister.

More than 250 civil society organizations and individuals have registered for the 2006 Spring Meetings. The Bank and Fund will host about a dozen policy dialogues with the groups on education, debt relief, climate change, human rights, and other issues.