The Regional Advisory Groups of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today
discussed with IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Senior Fund
Management global economic developments and the perspectives of the
different regions in their joint meeting during the IMF/World Bank Annual
Meetings.
The groups from Africa, Asia and Pacific, Europe, Middle East,
and the Americas, and the Fund's management, also exchanged views about the
implications of these developments for the challenges facing their regions
and the role of the Fund in helping them meet these challenges. The
discussions focused on policies to raise growth and employment, enhance
competitiveness, manage capital flows, and strengthen financial institutions
and intermediation, and on the need to coordinate such policies.
“We have had a constructive exchange of views with the advisory groups
and I welcome very much the frank and open discussion and feedback,” IMF
Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said. “These different perspectives
from around the world are crucial to help the Fund understand better the
economic issues and social concerns of the regions and individual countries.
This is what we need to enhance our policy advice and technical assistance
and to support the international cooperation that is so crucial at this
stage of the recovery. I thank the advisors for sharing their views and
observations with each other and with us, and look forward to continuing
this useful consultation.”
The
groups, who are comprised of prominent experts—acting in their personal
capacity—from the private and public sectors, as well as academia and civil
society, have an independent, advisory function. This was the groups’ first
joint meeting, following individual group meetings over the past year.
