These records were compiled by the Director of Development Policy in the Office of the Vice President of Development Policy. That position was held by Ernest Stern from April 1974 to September 1975, Attila Karaosmanoglu from October 1975 to June 1979, and E. Bevan Waide from June 1979 to 1982.

The Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the Bank and the Fund on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries, better known as the Development Committee, was established in 1974 to advise the Boards on development issues and to coordinate international efforts to finance development. The Interim Committee of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary System, known since 1999 as the International Monetary and Finance Committee, was established by the International Monetary Fund in 1974 to advise the Board on the management of the international monetary system. The Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs, now officially the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development, was established in 1971 to coordinate the positions of developing countries on international monetary and development finance issues to ensure that their interests were adequately represented in negotiations on international monetary matters. The chairman of the Group of Twenty-Four customarily addresses Development Committee meetings, and the Development Committee, the Interim Committee, and the Group of 24 normally meet at the same times during the year.

The series consists of four groups of records:

• 1. A general chronological file, 1977 - 1982, contains: a) correspondence between the Director, Development Policy and the Executive Secretary of the Development Committee, the Bank's liaison (Ernest Stern, Vice President of Operations) with the Development Committee, and other Bank managers, including President McNamara; b) copies of draft and final versions of Development Committee documents (agenda, press communiqu?s, reviews of Development Committeeperformance, annual reports, and work programs) forwarded to the Director of Development Policy or to the Executive Directors of IBRD.
• 2. Chronological files on meetings of the Development Committee, 1977 - 1980, contain agenda of meetings, copies of Development Committee documents to be discussed at the meetings, copies of President McNamara's statements delivered at Development Committee meetings, and memoranda from the Director, Development Policy or the Bank's liaison with the Development Committeesummarizing meetings. These files include some agenda for and documents considered at meetings of the Working Group on Development Finance and Policy, the Working Group on Access to Capital Markets, the Group of Twenty-four, and the Senior Officials of the Development Committee.
• 3. Files on committees and working groups generally contain agendas with copies of the documents to be discussed at the meeting attached, intra-Bank memoranda regarding the committee or working group, and reports and papers prepared by the committee, working group, or task force. Included are records for the Capital Markets Coordinating Committee, 1972 - 1977; the Working Group on Capital Market Access, 1975 - 1978; the Working Group on Development Finance and Policy, 1978; the Senior Officials' Meeting, September 1978; the Task Force on Private Foreign Investment, 1979 - 1981; the Task Force on Non-Concessional Flows, 1980-1981; the Group of Twenty-Four, 1978-1981; and the Interim Committee of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary System , 1978, 1980 - 1981.
• 4. Files related to Development Committee studies and reports include: correspondence, papers, and a report regarding cofinancing, 1978 -1980; a Bank study of aid groups sponsored by IBRD, 1978; a report on the implementations of the Special Action Program, 1978; the Joint Fund/Bank staff study on The Stabilization of Export Earnings, done at the invitation of the Development Committee and submitted to the Committee in 1978; and reviews of Development Committee performance, 1976 and1978.