The Spring 2006 meetings of the IMF’s **International Monetary and Financial Committee** and the joint World Bank-IMF **Development Committee** are being held in Washington, April 22-23. The forums provide the opportunity to discuss progress on the work of the Fund and Bank. Yesterday’s meeting of the IMFC, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, concluded with a Communiqué. *(see link below)* The Committee resolved to make the IMF more able to address challenges that are quite different from those of 1945 when the IMF was created. It welcomed the Managing Director’s report on implementing the IMF’s medium-term strategy.
In the context of this strategy, the Committee proposes a new framework for IMF surveillance which will consist of four elements:
• a new focus of surveillance on multilateral issues, including global financial issues, and especially the spillovers from one economy on others;
• a restatement of the commitments which member countries and their institutions make to each other under Article IV on which surveillance can focus on monetary, financial, fiscal and exchange rate policies;
• the Managing Director should implement his proposal for a new procedure for multilateral surveillance, which will involve the IMFC and the Executive Board;
• the IMFC should set a new annual remit for both bilateral and multilateral surveillance through which the Managing Director, the Executive Board and the staff are accountable for the quality of surveillance. This should involve the independence of Fund surveillance, greater transparency and the Independent Evaluation Office.
**AML/CFT Initiatives**
The Committee has called for continued actions by all countries to develop strong programmes on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), and supports the comprehensive assessment of these programmess within the context of the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP).
Meanwhile, the **G-7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors** also met in Washington on Friday, hosted by Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. They called as well for a stronger commitment from the IMF and the World Bank to fight terrorist finance and money laundering and cooperate more closely with the Financial Action Task Force. Additionally, that forum said, countries worldwide must implement the obligations agreed to under the auspices of the UN, the FATF, and other international and regional organisations. The agenda for the ministers and governors also dealt with global economic growth, imbalances and linkages, in addition to reforming the international financial institutions.
**Millennium Development Goals**
In advance of the weekend meetings, the World Bank and IMF released the third annual **Global Monitoring Report** on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), subtitled *Strengthening Mutual Accountability – Aid, Trade and Governance.* The Report highlights economic growth, better quality aid, and trade reforms, as well as governance as essential elements to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.