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Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting, Bridgetown, Barbados, 18-20 September 2005

25 August 2005

Note on Media Accreditation

Barbados will host the annual meeting of Commonwealth Finance Ministers from 18 to 20 September 2005.

The meeting, to be held at the Barbados Hilton Hotel in Bridgetown, will bring together ministers and delegates from 53 member countries.

Ministers and senior finance officials will discuss the world economy and the risks to Commonwealth developing countries of higher oil prices. Also on the agenda will be the twin US budget and trade deficits which pose systemic threats; and the weak dollar, higher interest rates in industrial country markets and weak economic performance in the Eurozone and Japan.

The meeting will seek to build on the outcomes of the United Nations Millennium Project, set up to advise the UN on strategies to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

One of the main sessions at the ministerial meeting, which will take place just before the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, will be on the special theme 'Giving Practical Effect to the Millennium Project Review'.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs, who is conducting the Millennium Review for the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will present his findings to Commonwealth Finance Ministers following the UN General Assembly high level plenary on the Millennium Review, which will have concluded the week before. Professor Sachs is expected to suggest practical ways in which Finance Ministers can further assist in accelerating the process towards the attainment of the MDGs.

For the past twenty years the Commonwealth has been advocating root and branch debt relief for highly indebted poor countries (HIPC). The Meeting will discuss the HIPC debt relief package announced at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, in July 2005. Also on the agenda will be the impact of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank's long-term debt sustainability framework for low income countries, as well as the burden of domestic debt.  There will also be an opportunity to showcase the commercial investment funds launched under the Commonwealth Private Investment Initiative. Issues of special interest to small states such as the compliance costs of responding to higher levels of security threats internationally, higher debt levels, natural disasters and HIV/AIDS will also be discussed.

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ISSUED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION
Commonwealth Secretariat Marlborough House Pall Mall London SW1Y 5HX United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 6385/6 Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 9081
Email: info@commonwealth.int