The series consists of documents sent electronically within IEC, to other parts of DEC, and to other Bank units on many subjects. A large proportion of the documents concern debt reporting, debt management operations, borrowing arrangements for countries, World Debt Tables, and World Development Indicators. Also included are comments on reports and papers, Unified Survey projects for various countries, Staff Appraisal Reports, and Draft Memoranda of the President for loans for projects. The series also includes requests for information in preparation for representation at Berne Union meetings and documents pertaining to modeling and analytical tools in IECIT [International Trade Division], external debt missions, and The Old Age Crisis Report. Summaries and reports of Bank Board meetings, comments on brainstorming sessions, and meeting announcements circulated by the Department Director or Division Chiefs are also part of the series.

This series consists of two parts. The first part contains International Economics Department (IEC) Director Masood Ahmed's records relating to the publication Finance & Development (F &D). Ahmed was a member of the Joint Fund-Bank Committee on Finance & Development from 1994 until January 1997. His files relating to Finance & Development consist mostly of correspondence with the editor-in-chief of F & D; copies of articles that were considered for publication in F & D; and comments on the proposed articles from Ahmed, IEC staff members, and other members of the Joint Committee. A few agenda and minutes of meetings of the Joint Committee are included in the series. Also included is correspondence sent to Ahmed that details the Bank's decision to discontinue the F & D in March 1997.

The second part of the series contains Director Masood Ahmed's files relating to Phase II of the International Economics Department's Renewal Program, which focus on the data and systems area of the department (established inspring 1995 and called the Development Data Group -IECDD). The files in this series include: intra-IEC memoranda and copies of IEC memoranda to other Bank units concerning the Renewal Program; minutes of meetings of the Redesign Team, the Steering Committee, the Data/System Management Team, and the various Sub Teams; copies of slides from computer-assisted presentations regarding the program made to the Steering Committee, the Departmental Management Team, and the IEC staff; copies of the IECDD briefing packet distributed to staff; notes from planning sessions; and memoranda regarding the reorganization of the Development Data Group.

This series contains files that IEC Director Masood Ahmed compiled on the Economic Development Institute (EDI) and the 50th Anniversary of the World Bank. Ahmed agreed in November 1993 to be a member of an informal network to review and comment on some of the internal Bank work regarding plans for the 50th Anniversary. The network was directed by Sarwar Lateef, who was also head of the secretariat to coordinate the Bank-wide 50th anniversary program. The 50th Anniversary files include correspondence withSarwar Lateef, staff in DECVP, and other members of the informal network; agenda for network meetings; comments on drafts of The World Bank at the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century: Learning from the Past/Embracing the Future; and copies of various background articles and papers prepared for the Committee on the Future of the Bretton Woods Institutions and for the 50th Anniversary of the World Bank. In October 1994 Ahmed was tapped to be a member of the Advisory Committee to EDI. The records relatingto EDI in this series include Ahmed's correspondence with the Director of EDI and other members of the Advisory Committee regarding the relaunching of EDI, copies of minutes of meetings of the Advisory Committee, and copies of various issuances regarding EDI from its establishment in 1955.

The correspondence in this series was maintained as a personal reading file by Mary Shirley during successive assignments at the World Bank from 1980 to 1995 serving as: Economist/Loan Officer, Country Programs Department I (LC1D), Office of the Regional Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, 1980 - 1982; Senior Economist, Projects Advisory Staff (PAS), Office of the Vice President, Operations Policy (OPSVP), 1983; Senior Economist and later Public Enterprises Adviser, Public Sector Management Unit (PPDPS), OPSVP, 1983 - 1987; Public Enterprises Adviser, Public Sector Management and Private Sector Development Division (CECPS), Country Economics Department, Office of the Vice President, Development Economics and Chief Economist (DECVP), 1987 - 1990; Chief, CECPS, 1990 - 1993; and Chief, Finance and Private Sector Development (PRDFP), Policy Research Department (PRD), 1993 - 1995.

Incoming correspondence is sometimes filed with copies of letters, memoranda, reports, papers, and informal communications prepared by Shirley. Shirley's earliest correspondence while assigned to LC1D was primarily with Division Chief Francisco Aguirre-Sacasa and government officials. The majority of the correspondence in the reading file centers on her work after leaving LC1D in 1982. The subjects of much of this later correspondence, exchanged primarily with Bank staff, relate to public enterprise issues, particularly in developing countries; private sector development; and privatization. Research and projects in all of these areas are covered in her correspondence.

Throughout the series are Back-to-Office Reports (BTOs) prepared by Shirley following numerous missions she led to various parts of Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. She also represented the Bank at meetings of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) in Paris (1987, 1990) when issues relating to private sector development were discussed. BTOs for these meetings are part of the file. Correspondence concerning Shirley's participation in the Committee on Private Sector Development and other Bank initiatives, along with a small amount of correspondence concerning her work on the World Development Report at the end of her LC1D assignment in 1982, are in the series. Throughout the series are letters of invitation for speaking engagements from academic institutions and professional groups both within the United States and abroad and Shirley's responses.

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.