About the Annual Meetings

The Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund (Fund) and the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group (Bank) normally meet once a year to discuss the work of their respective institutions. The Annual Meetings, which generally take place in September-October, have customarily been held in Washington for two consecutive years and in another member country in the third year.

The Inaugural Meeting of the Boards of Governors was held in Savannah, Georgia, USA in March 1946. The first Annual Meetings were held in Washington in 1946.

The Annual Meetings occur ahead of the meetings of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the Development Committee, the Group of Twenty-Four, and various other groups of members. At the conclusion of their meetings, the International Monetary and Financial Committee and the Development Committee, as well as several other groups, issue communiqués. The Annual Meetings will include a day of plenary sessions, during which Governors take up matters of business and consult with one another. At the Annual Meetings, the Boards of Governors make decisions on how current international monetary issues should be addressed and approve corresponding resolutions. The Annual Meetings are chaired by a Governor of the Fund and the Bank, with the chairmanship rotating among the membership each year. Every two years it elects Executive Directors. Each year any new members are welcomed into the Fund and Bank.

Because the Annual Meetings bring such a large number of member country officials together, they provide opportunities for consultations large and small, formal and informal. Numerous seminars are held in conjunction with the meetings, including seminars conducted by staff members for members of the press. The Annual Meetings Program of Seminars is designed to foster creative dialogue among the private sector, government delegates and senior Fund and Bank officials. The Per Jacobsson Lecture on international finance, which is sponsored by a foundation set up in honor of the Fund's third Managing Director, is also given each year in conjunction with the Meetings.

Annual Meetings Outside the United States: 1947—2012
Year	Location
1947	London
1950	Paris
1952	Mexico City
1955	Istanbul
1958	New Delhi
1961	Vienna
1964	Tokyo
1967	Rio de Janeiro
1970	Copenhagen
1973	Nairobi
1976	Manila
1979	Belgrade
1982	Toronto
1985	Seoul
1988	Berlin
1991	Bangkok
1994	Madrid
1997	Hong Kong
2000	Prague
2003	Dubai
2006	Singapore
2009	Istanbul
2012	Tokyo