[stop-imf] IMF, World Bank Cancel Meetings

[Robert Weissman]

From=20the World Bank and IMF:

WASHINGTON, September 17, 2001 =D0 The World Bank Group and International
Monetary Fund (IMF) will not hold the Annual Meetings of their Boards of
Governors and related committees on September 29-30, 2001, in Washington,
D.C.

World Bank President James Wolfensohn and IMF Managing Director Horst
K=9Ahler issued the following joint statement:

"In consultation with the U.S. authorities and the other member
governments, the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund have
decided not to hold their Annual Meetings on September 29-30, 2001. The
normal business of the Bank and the Fund will not be interrupted.
Alternative arrangements for conducting the required business of the
meetings will be determined. We expect to return to the normal schedule
for Bank and Fund meetings in 2002.

"This decision was taken out of 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.

"We would also like to express our heartfelt appreciation to the District
of Columbia, in particular, for its hard work to prepare a secure
environment for the meetings."

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IMF, World Bank Cancel Their Sept. 29-30 Annual Meetings Scheduled in
Washington
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
announced Monday that they had canceled this year's annual meetings,
saying security agents need time to focus on issues raised by last
week's terrorist attacks.

In a joint statement, officials of the two multinational lending
agencies headquartered in Washington said their normal operations
would not be affected by the cancellation.

``This decision was taken out of 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 IMF Managing
Director Horst Koehler and World Bank President James Wolfensohn.

The two officials said that they expect to return to their regular
schedule of meetings next year, which would mean a spring meeting of
finance ministers from the 24 nations on the steering committees for
both the IMF and World Bank.

Koehler and Wolfensohn said they would find other ways to deal with
the issues that would have been addressed at the annual meetings.

After Tuesday's attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
District of Columbia Police Chief Charles Ramsey urged the IMF and
World Bank to cancel the meetings.

City police had been counting on colleagues from other jurisdictions,
including New York City, to help them deal with what they said could
be as many as 100,000 protesters at the meetings.

World Bank spokeswoman Caroline Anstey had said last week that
officials at both institutions were intent on helping to make sure
that police forces were deployed in the best way to protect national
security.

Many of the groups that had been planning to protest had already
announced that they were calling off their demonstrations.

On Sunday, the Mobilization for Global Justice, the umbrella group
for many of the protest organizations, said it was calling off its
street demonstrations but would continue with plans for a ``people's
summit'' of teach-ins and discussions Sept. 26-28.

``Our decision to postpone was made out of respect for the victims of
this tragedy,'' the group said in a statement.

Last Friday, the AFL-CIO, Friends of the Earth and Oxfam America all
announced that they were pulling out of the planned demonstrations.

While the annual meetings of the 183-nation IMF and World Bank have
been canceled, officials have indicated that some events that
normally take place around those discussions would continue.

Last week, the German Finance Ministry said a meeting of the finance
ministers and central bank presidents of the seven wealthiest
nations, the Group of Seven, was likely to be held but that the
meeting might be moved from Washington.

The G-7 normally meets immediately before the spring and fall
gatherings of the IMF and World Bank.