Journalists in the Washington, D.C. area must have press credentials issued by either the White House, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, or the U.S. Department of Defense. (U.S. Congressional press passes are not accepted.) Please give your credential details on the accreditation form.

Other journalists should send with the accreditation form either: 1) a copy of press credentials issued by national or local authorities, or by a professional association of journalists; or 2) an assignment letter from their Editor, along with a copy of the publication, where applicable.

Requests for accreditation are accepted unless the applicant cannot show he or she is a journalist; unless you hear otherwise, you can assume your accreditation is in order. If you have questions about your accreditation, please contact Graham Newman or David Hawley of the IMF's Information Division (see below for contact details).

Journalists who have applied for accreditation can register for the Meetings from 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 29 at the press registration desk in the IMF Building, 700 19th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20431, or, after October 6, at the Press Room at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel (formerly the Sheraton Washington Hotel), 2660 Woodley Park Road, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008). Press registration is open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. during the Meetings. You must come in person to register and present press credentials bearing a photograph. When you register you will receive a press badge giving you access to the Press Room, press conferences and briefings, press seminars and some official events.

We strongly urge you to apply for accreditation before the Meetings, because you may face lengthy delays if you apply during the Meetings. Journalists who do not have any of the credentials described above may be subject to delay in accreditation.

The Press Room at the Fund is on the red level and will open at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 29 and close on the evening of Monday, October 5. It will have approximately 130 work spaces available on a first-come, first-served basis, and each desk will be equipped with power outlets and a telephone from which local calls can be made free of charge. Long distance calls can be made using telephone cards that will be on sale in the Press Room. Press Room telephones can also be used for data transmission. Self-service facsimile machines will be available in the Press Room, using telephone cards that will be on sale in the Press Room.

The Press Room at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel will open on Tuesday, October 6 and close on the afternoon of Thursday, October 8. It will have approximately 350 work spaces and the same facilities as the Press Room in the Fund building.

The Interim Committee, which meets on October 4, is known officially as the "Interim Committee of the Board of Governors on the International Monetary System," and was established in October 1974 to advise the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund on supervising the management and adaptation of the international monetary system as well as dealing with disturbances that might threaten the system. The Committee, whose members are Governors of the Fund, Ministers, or others of comparable rank, reflects the composition of the Fund's Executive Board: each member country that appoints, and each group of countries that elects, an Executive Director, appoints a member of the Committee, which currently has 24 members.

The Development Committee, which meets on October 5, is known officially as the "Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the Bank and the Fund on the transfer of real resources to Developing Countries, and was also formed in October 1974. It consists of 24 members, generally Ministers of Finance, appointed in turn to successive periods of two years by one of the countries or groups of countries that designates a member of the Bank's or the Fund's Executive Board. The Committee advises and reports to the Board of Governors of the Bank and the Fund on all aspects of the broad question of the transfer of real resources to developing countries, and makes suggestions for their implementation. The Chairman is Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda, Finance Minister of Thailand.

The Group of 24 Ministers, which meets on October 3, was formed at the 1972 Lima meeting of the Group of 77 to represent the interests of the developing countries in negotiations on international monetary matters. The Group, which is officially known as the "Intergovernmental Group of 24 on International Monetary Affairs", is not an organ of the Fund. However, the Fund provides secretariat services for the Group, whose meetings usually take place in conjunction with those of the Interim and Development Committees to enable developing members to discuss agenda items before the meetings of the two Committees. The Group of 24 comprises eight members each from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Group's members are: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guatemala, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syrian Arab Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. China attends as an invitee. The Chairman of the Ministers is Abdelkrim Harchaoui, Minister of Finance of Algeria; the Chairman of the Deputies is Mohamed Terbéche, Advisor, Ministry of Finance of Algeria.

The Group of 10 Ministers, which meets on October 4, was formed in 1962 in conjunction with the establishment of the General Arrangements to Borrow (GAB), under which the Governments of nine members, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and the central banks of two others, Germany and Sweden make financial resources available to the IMF for lending to participants, and, under certain circumstances, finance borrowing by nonparticipants. The Chairman of the Ministers is Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, and the Chairman of the Deputies is Mario Draghi, Director-General of the Italian Treasury Ministry's General Directorate of the Treasury.

Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the Group of Seven major industrial countries generally hold a meeting at the time of the Annual Meetings. The members are: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The press conferences of Fund's Managing Director Michel Camdessus on October 1 and of the Bank's President James Wolfensohn, also on October 1, provide an opportunity for journalists to enquire about issues of current interest on the world economy and the work of the Fund and the Bank.

The World Economic Outlook (WEO) press conference, given by Fund Economic Counsellor and Director of Research Michael Mussa on September 30 at 9:00 a.m, is devoted to the latest developments in the global economy. Published twice a year, the WEO contains projections and analysis that are an integral part of the Fund's surveillance of economic developments and policies in its member countries and of the global economic system. Copies of the WEO will be available to the press on September 29; these, together with the contents of the press conference will be under a wire transmission embargo until 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, September 30.

The Bank's Development Economics Vice Presidency will launch the 1998 World Development Report (WDR) on the theme "Knowledge and Information for Development" on Friday, October 2 at 10:00 a.m. Contents of the WDR and the press conference will be embargoed until 3:00 p.m., Sunday, October 4. This will allow news coverage of the WDR on the same day that The Knowledge Economy will be featured in the Program of Seminars.

The 1998 Annual Meetings Program of Seminars will take place from October 3–6. It is designed to create a forum for international business and financial leaders and high-ranking government officials to discuss market developments and investment opportunities. The theme this year will be The Knowledge Economy with a special focus on Managing Financial Crises. Sessions will focus on the changing dynamics of global investment flows, implications for the financial architecture of the global economy, and the challenges of harnessing knowledge and information technology for development in the next millennium. The Program will feature country, regional, and thematic seminars; workshops; keynote sessions; and information kiosks. All seminars will be on-the-record and open to the press registered for the Annual Meetings. Seats will be reserved for the press at each session and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The schedule for the Program of seminars is published separately.

For further information on Annual Meetings events and press arrangements, please contact: