As delegates and protesters descend on Washington DC for this
year's IMF and World Bank annual meetings, nobody is sure quite
what to expect. It's certain that the proceedings will be
overshadowed by security concerns as never before, though. This
time, the familiar risk that protesters will manage to shut the
meetings down is joined by the far graver threat of terrorism.
The institutions themselves play down the differences from
previous years. The agenda will include the usual subjects for
discussion - the state of the international economy, progress on
poverty reduction and the heavily indebted poor countries
initiative, and efforts to combat international terrorism and
money-laundering. The usual round of speeches and seminars will go
ahead and many familiar faces will be there. ...
