Japan offers to host IMF, World Bank meetings in 2012+

TOKYO, May 19 Kyodo -
The Japanese government is offering to host the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in the fall of 2012, sources close to the matter said Thursday.
The move, which is still informal, reflects Tokyo's intention to demonstrate to the world the country's possible recovery from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the sources said.
The Washington-based institutions whose member countries currently stand at 187 hold their general meetings outside the U.S. capital every three years. Japan last hosted the events in 1964.
The 2012 conferences were originally scheduled to be held in Egypt in October. But the Egyptian government has recently informed the IMF of its giving up on hosting the meetings of finance ministers and central bank chiefs from member countries, following the political unrest in the country, according to the sources.
Financial chiefs of the Group of Seven and the Group of 20 economies hold separate talks on the sidelines of the annual meetings.
==Kyodo
2011-05-20 00:12:29