Participation of Mr. Reinoldijus Šarkinas, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania in the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington

The International Monetary and Financial Committee of the IMF held its meeting on 24 September 2005 to discuss the global economy and financial markets, IMF’s strategic direction and the key IMF policy issues. Mr. Reinoldijus Sarkinas, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, participated in the meeting.

The results of the meeting are presented in the communiqué of the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the IMF at http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2005/pr05210.htm

The proposal for the IMF, together with the International Development Association and the African Development Fund, to cancel the debts of heavily indebted poor countries before the end of the year, using its internal resources, was approved. However, it is not enough to cancel debts only; it is necessary to support the efforts of these countries to improve governance and reinforce economic capacity. It is also important to adhere to the principle of uniformity of treatment for all poor countries.

Mr Per-Kristian Foss, Minister of Finance of Norway, made a statement on behalf of Nordic and Baltic countries (Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden). The statement is available at http://www.imf.org/External/AM/2005/imfc/stmt/eng/nor.pdf