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Records of the Development Committee

Administrative files

The series consists of subject files covering the operations of the Committee on a day-to-day basis. These include records of meetings of the Committee President with various members, with the President of the Bank and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (the three together are known as the Troika), and with the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs. There are records of administrative matters such as governance and membership, budgets, work programs,and correspondence with other multi-lateral international development agencies. Other files contain information on topics of interest to the Committee, such as health, environment, and debt issues, while still others are speeches, general correspondence, and the publication of a pamphlet for the tenth anniversary of the Committee.

When this series was in active use, it was the heart of the Development Committee secretariat operations, according to former Executive Secretary Peter Mountfield. It is an essential resource for understanding the scope and operations of the Development Committee during its first two decades.

Annual reports to the Boards of Governors

The series includes the annual reports of the Development Committee to the Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a press release on the 1978 report, and the reviews of the Committee in 1978 and 1981 as presented to the Boards of Governors.

Master file of numbered Committee documents

This series contains a complete set of official numbered documents of the Committee which include but are not limited to topical papers distributed to members of the Committee prior to meetings, reports of working groups and task forces, records of discussion, and notices of meetings and proposed agendas. Statements to the Committee from the President of the World Bank and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund are included, as are communiques from the meetings of the Intergovernmental Group of 24 on International Monetary Affairs. Beginning in 1988 the series also includes official statements made during the year by members and observers. Each document is usually present in English, French, and Spanish versions. The content of the documents is reflected in the titles of the items.

Meeting files

This series consists of the administrative records of each session of the Development Committee. Included are agendas, lists of speakers, attendance, travel and seating arrangements, drafts of statements, records of discussions, and internal and external correspondence relating to the meeting. As an example, the file on the 38th meeting (May 1990) includes the agenda, press communique, seating chart, remarks for plenary, afternoon, and closing sessions, luncheon arrangements, press conference attendance, information for participants, statements, background materials, administrative matters, and the record of discussions.

Publications

This series consists of numbered publications by the Development Committee on development issues such as environment, assistance to developing countries, trade and development, concessional flows, poverty, market prospects, and structural adjustment.

Records of meetings of deputies (senior officials)

In 1977 the Development Committee decided, as an experiment, to hold meetings of the deputies to the Committee members in advance of the Committee meetings, in order to prepare for the discussions in the full Committee. After four meetings the experiment was abandoned.

The records consist of agendas and information packets for the four meetings, verbatim transcripts, and numbered documents. Topics covered are the same as those of the Development Committee for the period, including the role of multilateral development institutions, review of the work program of the Committee, a report of the Working Group on access to capital markets, and a Mexican proposal for a long-term recycling facility.

Records of sub-committees, task forces, and working groups

During its first years, the Development Committee created subordinate bodies to help manage the Committee itself (the Sub-committee on Administration) and to investigate issues and propose positions (task forces and working groups). In 1979 the Committee decide to abolish working groups, but task forces with a specific limited task and duration might still be established. Thereafter the Committee created task forces rarely, choosing instead to handle most matters within the Secretariat and the Committee.

An ad hoc working group on administration was established by the Committee chairman and met in Paris on 9 June 1975, to discuss the budget and organization of the Committee. This working group recommended the establishment of a sub-committee of the Development Committee, to be designated the Sub-committee on Administration, to consist of ten members to review the budget (see numbered Committee document DC/75-17). Although the sub-committee was intended to be a continuing body, it failed to gain acceptance and was terminated in 1978.

The Development Committee created task forces on private foreign investment (1979-1980), non-concessional flows (1980-1982), and concessional flows (1982-1985) and working groups on access to capital markets (1975-1978) and on development finance and policy (1977-1979). These bodies commissioned papers, held meetings and consultations, and prepared proposals for the Development Committee. The papers and proposals, prepared as numbered documents, provide important overviews of world economic mechanisms as of the beginning of the fourth quarter of the twentieth century. Of particular interest are records of a seminar held by the Working Group on access to capital markets in October of 1978. The seminar brought together representatives of developing countries and market operators and institutional investors, and the report of proceedings shows the divergent points of view current at that time.

Records of the Development Committee

  • WB IBRD/IDA DC
  • Fonds
  • 1974 - 1998

The Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing countries, usually known as the Development Committee, is an advisory body only. The primary function of the staff of the Committee is to arrange the Committee's semiannual meetings where issue papers are discussed. The records of the Development Committee, therefore, are primarily those of meetings and of the discussion documents prepared for the meetings. Transcripts of the proceedings exist for all meetings of the Committee, and are the only series of records that covers the entire history of the Committee.

The Committee's activities include support for international cooperation in development activities, coordination of international efforts in finance development, and advice to the Boards of Governors of the Bank and the Fund on all aspects of the transfer of real resources to developing countries. These activities are reflected in both thepapers prepared for the Committee and in the work of a number of task forces and working groups the Committee established in the 1970s and 1980s.

During its first twenty years of existence, the Committee staff maintained subject and administrative files that contained background information on topics, programs, organizations, and meetings of relevance to the Development Committee's interests. Because during part of this period the Executive Secretary of the Development Committee also served as the DeputySecretary of the World Bank, some information in the subject and administrative files relates primarily to the Bank and its activities rather than to the Committee itself. These files are now discontinued, and the Committee staff files all records relating to a meeting, including administrative matters, background information, and official numbered documents, in a central meetings file. Chronological files have also been discontinued as of 1998.

Development Committee

Substantive [subject] files

This series contains correspondence and background material relating to development issues studied by the Development Committee. It includes the principal body of records on the Working Group on access to capital markets. These files are essential for understanding the initial conceptualizations of the Development Committee as to its area of activity and the extent of its coordinating functions in the field of development.