On April 20-21 2002 the IMF will be having its annual spring meetings in Washington D.C. Between 10-50,000 activists are expected to protest this event in conjunction with other numerous other protest activities on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday April 19-22. Some of the activities and groups are listed below. WE URGE EVERYONE TO COME TO WASHINGTON D.C. AND PROTEST ALL OF THE CAUSES AND MAKE THIS A TRULY MASSIVE MOBILIZATION!!!!!!!



Overview of the Spring and Annual Meetings

SPRING MEETINGS

Each Spring, the joint Bank-IMF Development Committee and the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee hold meetings to discuss progress on the work of the Bank and Fund. Plenary sessions of the World Bank and IMF's Boards of Governors are only scheduled during the Annual Meetings in the autumn.

ANNUAL MEETINGS

Each autumn, the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) hold their Annual Meetings to discuss a range of issues related to poverty reduction, international economic development and finance. The Annual Meetings provide a forum for international cooperation and enable the Bank and Fund to better serve their member countries.

The Annual Meetings traditionally are held in Washington two years out of three and, in order to reflect the international character of the two institutions, every third year in a different member country. In addition to the meetings of the Boards of Governors, the Development Committee and the International Monetary and Financial Committee are officially convened.

Around these meetings, the Bank and the IMF organize a number of fora to facilitate the interaction of governments and Bank-IMF staff with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), journalists, and the private sector. Indeed, every effort is made to ensure that the Annual Meetings provide an effective forum for explaining to the public - directly and through the media - the tasks, objectives, and outcomes of the work of the Bank and the IMF. In this manner, the Meetings make a major contribution to openness and transparency.

About 10,000 people attend the meetings, including about 3,500 members of delegations from the member countries of the Bank and the IMF, roughly 1,000 representatives of the media, and more than 5,000 visitors and special guests drawn primarily from private business, the banking community and NGOs. In addition, Bank and IMF staff participate in the meetings with officials of government delegations.

http://www.imf.org/external/spring/2002/overview.htm



Mobilize for Global Justice

April 19-22 in Washington, DC

Come to Washington DC April 19-22 for an extravaganza of events and make your voice heard for global justice.

The World Bank and IMF will host another round of meetings in Washington D.C. April 20-21. These meetings come in the wake of the economic crisis in Argentina, where the free-market policies pushed around the world by the World Bank and IMF unraveled into real human suffering. They also come after the collapse of the multinational-corporate-giant Enron