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About the World Bank Group - IMF
1997 Annual Meetings

The Board of Governors of the IMF and the Board of Governors of the World Bank Group normally meet once a year to discuss the work of their respective institutions. The Annual Meetings, which generally take place in the fall, have customarily been held in Washington for two consecutive years and in another member country in the third year.

Annual Meetings Held Outside the United States, 1947-94
Year Number of
Meeting 		Location
1947 2nd London
1950 5th Paris
1952 7th Mexico City
1955 10th Istanbul
1958 13th New Delhi
1961 16th Vienna
1964 19th Tokyo
1967 22nd Rio de Janeiro
1970 25th Copenhagen
1973 28th Nairobi
1976 31st Manila
1979 34th Belgrade
1982 37th Toronto
1985 40th Seoul
1988 43rd Berlin
1991 46th Bangkok
1994 49th Madrid

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

In recent years, the Annual Meetings have been preceded by meetings of the Interim Committee, the Development Committee, the Group of Ten, the Group of Twenty-Four, and various other groups of members. At the conclusion of their meetings, the Interim Committee and the Development Committee, as well as several other groups, issue communiqués. The Annual Meetings include 2 1/2 days of plenary sessions, during which Governors take up matters of business, consult with one another, and address the assembled delegates to present their countries' views on current issues in international economics and finance. At the Annual Meetings, the Board of Governors makes decisions on how current international monetary issues should be addressed and approves corresponding resolutions. The Annual Meetings are chaired by a Governor of the IMF or the World Bank Group, 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 IMF and World 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 World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund officials. This year's Program of Seminars focuses on Asia and the World: Capital, Competitiveness, and Community. The Per Jacobsson Lecture on international finance, which is sponsored by a foundation set up in honor of the IMF's third Managing Director, is also given each year in conjunction with the meetings.

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