Series - Records Relating to the Committee of Twenty and to Two of Its Technical Groups

Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA DEC-01-13

Title

Records Relating to the Committee of Twenty and to Two of Its Technical Groups

Date(s)

  • February 1972 - May 1974 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

2.50 linear feet of textual records

Context area

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The Committee of Twenty (C-XX), formally known as the Committee of the Board of Governors on Reform of the International Monetary System and Related Issues, was established by the IMF in 1972 to prepare a draft for a reformed international monetary system after the United States had announced in August 1971 that it was suspending the convertibility of the dollar into gold. The records in this series were compiled by Frank Vibert while he was working in the Policy Planning and Program Review Department (PPR) in the Office of the Vice President for Development Policy (VPD). The records primarily concern two of the Committee's Technical Groups: the Technical Group on the Transfer of Real Resources and the Technical Group on the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) Link and Related Proposals. The Bank was asked to participate in the secretariat function for the Technical Group on the Transfer of Real Resources, and Frank Vibert with Azizali Mohammed from the IMF formed the secretariat for the Group. Earnest Stern, Senior Adviser in VPD, was part of the Technical Group on the SDR Link.

The series contains copies of IMF and World Bank studies and other documents that were used as background materials for the Committee or that were drafted in response to specific requests from Committee staff; drafts of and comments from IMF and Bank staff on the Bank paper, Capital Flows to Developing Countries, that was prepared for the Committee; and the issues of the IMF newsletter, IMF Survey, that included articles regarding the Committee of Twenty. The files include: copies of President McNamara's correspondence with Ernest Stern and with C. Jeremy Morse, the chair of the Deputies of the Committee of Twenty; memoranda exchanged between Vibert and Stern; intra-VPD correspondence and other intra-Bank correspondence relating to the Committee of Twenty and the Technical Groups; Vibert's correspondence with IMF staff and with the chair of the Technical Group on the Transfer of Real Resources; copies of memoranda Vibert drafted for the chair's signature; and Vibert's copies of Stern's memoranda to the files regarding the SDR Link.

Records maintained for meetings of the Technical Group on the Transfer of Real Resources include: Vibert's correspondence relating to pre-meeting planning, copies of documents provided as background for the meeting discussions, lists of attendees, copies of the Terms of Reference for the Group, and Vibert's handwritten notes form the meetings. The files also contain multiple drafts and comments on the drafts of the Group's report.

Records relating to the Technical Group on the SDR Link include copies of World Bank and IMF documents provided the Group as background materials; copies of statements regarding the SDR Link made by heads of delegations to the Group; notes regarding SDR discussions with the United Kingdom and Germany; and various drafts of the Bank paper Bank Group Uses of SDR Link Resources.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Records are arranged by subject.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Records are subject to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.

Conditions governing reproduction

Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.

Language of material

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

An inventory list is available here.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

  • Records of Individual Staff Members -- Ernest Stern files (WB IBRD/IDA STAFF-10).

  • See oral history interview of Ernest Stern.

  • See Records of the Office of the Historian -- World Bank History Project -- Interviews (WB IBRD/IDA HIST-01-10) for notes of an interview and interview with Ernest Stern.

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

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Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).

Disclosure status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

5 October 2011

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area