Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 4 / Trend N.Ismayilova /
The Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB)Group will take place in Washington D.C. Oct.8-10, IMF reported.
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.
This year, the Annual Meetings will 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.
The Annual Meetings will include a day of plenary sessions, during which Governors take up matters of business and consult with one another.
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 meetings each year bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness. This year's meeting
Finance Minister Samir Sharifov is governor from Azerbaijan at IMF and Central Bank Chairman Elman Rustamov - WB.
Azerbaijan became a WB member in 1992. During this period, the bank has approved loans worth $2.5 billion to finance 47 projects in Azerbaijan. In the 2008 fiscal year alone, the bank intended to finance 13 projects worth $1.251 billion, thus accomplishing the four-year budget strategy in two years. Over the next two years (2009-10 years), the WB has expressed readiness to allocate more than $1 billion on commercial terms from the IBRD. But the bank still continues to provide funding for Azerbaijan in parallel on concessional terms.
The Azerbaijani government has cooperated with the IMF at the level of consultations within Article IV for five years. So the prospects for cooperation on a program basis are virtually DOT discussed during the visits.
Permanent representation of the IMF in Azerbaijan has been functioning since 1993, but the co-operation with the government started in 1992. The Fund started crediting the country in 1995. Up to now, IMF provided credits to Azerbaijan within six programs, but since 2005, the co-operation with the IMF has been continuing at the level of consultations because the government of Azerbaijan refused to obtain credits from the Fund. Azerbaijan will pay off loans previously borrowed from the Fund until 2013. In 2010, the Fund will pay loans worth SDR 9.83 million, including SDR 9.66 million in basic debt and SDR 0.18 millions in interest rates.
Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at: [email protected]