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Chiefs of World Bank and International Monetary Fund to Miss United Nations Forum
 The chiefs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have declined to participate in a major U.N. conference next week on the financing of development assistance for poor countries, upsetting an effort to secure high-level attendance at a meeting aimed at goading the beleaguered financial giants into stepping up aid. World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick and IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn confirmed Monday that they will not lead their agencies' delegation at a four-day conference in Doha, Qatar, beginning Saturday. But they will send senior advisers and remain committed to the goals of the conference, which will be attended by all of the 192 U.N. members, said officials from the two financial institutions. Some top U.N. officials were visibly infuriated by what they viewed as a snub of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. One official accused Zoellick of trying to ensure that the major decisions on the financial crisis would be made by the less unwieldy Group of 20 nations, which met in Washington on Nov. 15 to try to coordinate international response to the meltdown. "It's fair to say that the secretary general was very disappointed and doesn't understand completely" why they will not be attending, the official said. Posted by: Fred 2008-11-26 |
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