Singapore to host 2006 Annual Meetings of IMF and World Bank

Singapore, 29 September 2002....Singapore will host the 2006 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The Board of Governors of the two Bretton Woods institutions, who comprise finance ministers and central bank Governors of 184 member countries have endorsed Singapore's offer to host the annual meetings in 2006.

"Singapore is honored that its offer to host the 2006 annual meetings has been endorsed by the Board of Governors of the IMF and the World Bank," said Mr. Lim Hng Kiang, Singapore's Second Minister for Finance and Deputy Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. "We have actively supported the work of the two Bretton Woods institutions and our offer to host the annual meetings in 2006 is a sign of our deep commitment."

Speaking in Washington D.C., Mr. Lim said that the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank would be returning to East Asia after a nine-year gap. "When the meetings were last held in East Asia in Hong Kong in 1997, the region was in the midst of a severe currency crisis," Mr. Lim said. "It is fitting that the meetings will be held in East Asia in 2006 in view of the important steps that many countries in the region have taken in strengthening their financial systems and restructuring their economies."

The venue for the meetings, which are scheduled for September 2006, will be the Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Center (Suntec City). The Singapore government and the private sector will collaborate closely to ensure effective logistical, administrative and security arrangements. An inter-agency Steering Committee, co-chaired by Mr. Lim Siong Guan, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Mr. Koh Yong Guan, Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore, has been set up to lead the planning and preparations for the meetings. The Committee members are mainly Permanent Secretaries from various ministries and statutory boards who will be actively involved in the preparations, including the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Trade and Industry. The Steering Committee is supported by a Planning Committee, which is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the work of the 10 inter-agency organising Sub-Committees, tasked to work on specific areas of arrangements for the meetings.

The annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, which are usually held in Washington D.C. are held once every three years in a member country of the two institutions. The meetings are a major international event with participation by finance ministers and central bank governors of the 184 member nations of the two institutions. The meetings also attract the chief executives of leading international banks and securities firms who attend the many side events and seminars that are held in conjunction with the annual meetings.

MINISTRY OF FINANCE