About the Spring Meetings
Each Spring, thousands of government officials, the private sector, journalists, civil society representatives, and other interested observers gather in Washington DC for the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. At the heart of the gathering are meetings of the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee and the joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, which discuss progress on the work of the IMF and the World Bank. Also featured are seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and many other events focused on the global economy, international development, and the world’s financial markets.
The plenary session of the IMF and the World Bank's Boards of Governors is scheduled only during the Annual Meetings in the autumn.
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 Ten, 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 Bank and the Fund, 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 the 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—2009 | |
|---|---|
| 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 |