This series consists of five parts and includes records related to the Joint World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) committees, meetings, and seminars in which Masood Ahmed participated during his time as Director of the International Economics Department (IEC). IEC played a key role in joint Bank-IMF initiatives by providing statistical data and publications on macroeconomic projections, multilateral-debt, and trade forecasting. Much of this was done in collaboration with the IMF's Statistical Department, where IEC and the IMF shared and reviewed data and publications such as the IEC Global Economic Prospects (GEP), World Debt Tables (WDT), and the IMF Statistical Department's World Economic Outlook (WEO). The data provided by IEC and IMF Statistical Department helped to set the agenda for Joint IMF-Bank meetings, and informed subsequent policy development. In addition, IEC senior officials directly participated and advised Bank-IMF efforts, and helped develop the joint Bank-IMF board papers eventually produced by the Development Committee.
The first part of this series includes records from Ahmed's involvement with the joint Bank-IMF Development Committee from January 1994 to December 1997. The records consist of agenda and minutes of meetings, memoranda, and correspondence; copies of statements given by participants in committees; and published reports and joint Bank-IMF papers. Some of the correspondence is internal Bank communications to the Office of the President (EXC), DEC staff, and IEC staff reporting on Committee meetings, or discussing issues or actions related to the meetings. The records primarily focus on the topic of Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and the joint Bank-IMF HIPC Initiative of 1996. Ahmed played a key role in policy advisement for the HIPC Initiative and its subsequent implementation and policy revisions.
The second part of the series consists of files from the joint Bank-IMF Annual Meetings Ahmed attended from 1994 to 1997, including meetings held in: Madrid, 1994; Washington, DC, 1995 and 1996; and Hong Kong, 1997. The records include: briefing books outlining events, topics, and background information; briefs for ad hoc meetings or smaller committee meetings; delegation lists and biographies of participating agencies and individuals; handwritten notes; speech transcripts by Masood Ahmed and others; and correspondence and memoranda related to involvement by IEC units for the Annual Meetings, and related to subsequent reporting in the Annual Meetings to Officeof the President (EXC), the DEC Vice President, IEC officials, or other internal Bank staff.
The third segment of this series is records from the IMF Interim Committee meetings Ahmed attended from 1994 to 1997. The Interim Committee meetings were IMF member only meetings, but the Bank President and other senior officials were invited as observers for each meeting. The Office of the President (EXC) usually had the DEC Vice President or Ahmed attend these meetings in the President's absence. The records consist of agenda and meeting minutes and correspondence sent from the IMF and correspondence and memoranda sent internally between EXC, DEC, and IEC regarding arrangements or attendance at the meeting, and reporting of the meeting.
The fourth part of the series includes records from joint Bank-IMF organized seminars and workshops in which Ahmed participated. These records consist of Severely Indebted Low Income Countries (SILIC) seminars and workshops Ahmed attended from 1994 to 1995 where he helped develop a joint IMF-Bank SILIC paper. Memoranda, correspondence, and drafts document Ahmed's collaboration with the IMF to develop SILIC policy, and also his reporting of his work to the Office of the President (EXC), the DEC Vice President, and other internal Bank staff. Similar records contain transcripts for the Workshop on the Analytical Aspects of the Debt Problems of Heavily-Indebted Countries, 7 February 1996. Agenda, memoranda, correspondence, and copies of presentation speeches are also included for the IMF/Bank Seminar on External Financing for Low Income Countries, 9-12 December 1996.
The last part of the series consists of correspondence, memoranda, and photo static copies of statistical reports and publications sent from the IMF to Ahmed from January 1995 to December 1997. The records document the collaboration between IEC and the IMF Statistical Department.
