W-B development meet to be held in Bangalore

Friday, 21 March 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India has been selected as the venue for the first World Bank Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics to be held in a developing country. One of the world's best-known conferences on development, the theme of the meet to be held at Bangalore May 21-22 is "Accelerating Development". Eminent scholars and practitioners from across the world will present research findings and discuss key policy issues related to poverty reduction at the conference. The conference has been held annually in Washington since 1988. For the past four years, a similar conference has been held each year in Europe. "Starting with this year's conference in Bangalore, each of these conferences will be held in a developing country every other year," the World Bank said in a statement issued here Thursday. "This change reflects the growing importance of research done in developing countries and the need to bring such conferences closer to participants in the developing world." One of the key speakers at the Bangalore meet will be World Bank senior vice president and chief economist Nicholas Stern, who had previously taught at the Indian Statistical Institute in Bangalore and Delhi. Stern also leads an unusual research programme that has tracked development for more than five decades in a single village in Uttar Pradesh. "India and Indians have been at the forefront of research in development economics," said Michael Carter, World Bank country director for India. "This conference will provide a valuable opportunity for local researchers to contribute to and benefit from interactions with the wider research community."
Source: IANS
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