World Bank, IMF meetings cancelled

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 117. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have cancelled the annual meetings of their Boards of Governors and related committee meetings scheduled to be held between September 29 and 30. The expectation is for the normal schedule of meetings next year.

``The decision was taken out of the deepest respect and sympathy for the families of all those touched by the horrific events of last Tuesday and in order to dedicate law enforcement personnel fully to the extraordinary and immediate priorities at hand'', said a statement issued by the President of the World Bank, Mr.James Wolfensohn, and the Managing Director of the IMF, Mr.Horst Kohler.

The Bank and the Fund normally hvae their meetings and related conferences and seminars for at least a week in September- October. But this time around the meetings were truncated fearing large scale disruptions by anti-globalisation protestors. Authorities and law enforcement agencies were expecting at least 100,000 demonstrators.

But in the aftermath of last Tuesday's tragedy in New York and Washington it became apparent that the Bank and the Fund would have to either postpone the meetings or change the venue. It was becoming increasingly clear that the Group of Seven industrialised nations was not in a mood for the meetings to proceed in this environment.

The bottomline was security, the same issue that forced the postponement of the Special Session on Children in New York and the bigger question mark on the two week general debate of the United Nations General Assembly starting September 24.

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Section  : International
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