Babacan: "Turkey is proud to host the IMF-World Bank meetings in Istanbul"

Hosting the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Istanbul next week will be a great opportunity for Turkey, said Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy Ali Babacan yesterday. "It is a great honor for us that Istanbul has been selected as the venue to host such a strategic event," he told a press conference. Babacan said the meetings would bring together economy and finance ministers as well as major figures from global finance quarters and scholars from 186 IMF and World Bank member countries. He said Turkey would become the first country to host the event for the second time, as it also hosted the meetings in 1955, adding that Turkey won 90 percent of the votes of IMF and WB members to be host. Babacan also stressed that the meetings come at a critical time for the world, as the global economic crisis continues, and so would have important results. Babacan added that during the meetings, Turkey and the IMF would have not have talks about a possible loan agreement, as the meetings' focus is the world economy, not Turkish-IMF relations. In related news, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrived in Istanbul yesterday for the meetings. IMF First Deputy Managing Director John Lispky, also in Istanbul, said the meetings are a great opportunity to tout Turkey to the top economic officials from around the world.