Press Release No. 09/252

Press Release: IMF and World Bank Group Launch Website for 2009 Annual Meetings in Istanbul

July 6, 2009

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group today launched the newly-designed website for the 2009 Annual Meetings, which will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, during October 6-7, 2009. This is the second time that Turkey will be hosting the Annual Meetings—the first time was in 1955, also in Istanbul—making Turkey the only country to host the Annual Meetings twice.

The website, accessible at www.fundbankmeetings.org or www.bankfundmeetings.org, offers a range of information related to the upcoming Annual Meetings, including online press accreditation, CSO accreditation, a schedule of events, and the Program of Seminars. The site also provides access to documents, speeches, transcripts, photographs, and video that will be released during the Meetings and contains a hyperlink to the website of the host government of Turkey, http://www.istanbul2009turkey.org.

At the Annual Meetings, the Board of Governors of the IMF and the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group meet to discuss the work of their respective institutions. The Annual Meetings also serve as an occasion that brings together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, civil society organizations, private sector executives and academics to discuss topical issues of global concern.

The October 6-7 plenary session is preceded by a host of events starting on September 30, including the launch of the World Economic Outlook and the Global Financial Stability Report, the Program of Seminars, the Group of 24 meeting, and meetings of the institutions’ policy-steering bodies, the IMF’s International Monetary and Financial Committee and the World Bank’s Development Committee.

These Annual Meetings are particularly important given the current economic crisis. It is expected that participants at the Meetings will discuss the outlook for the global economy, developments in financial markets, the impact of the crisis on countries, including low-income countries, and the response of member countries and the international community to the crisis. 

The Annual Meetings have customarily been held in Washington DC for two consecutive years and in another member country in the third year. The IMF and the World Bank Group have 186 member countries.