Washington
DC Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said he would
recommend that the upcoming IMF World Bank
meeting, scheduled for September 29-30 in downtown
Washington, would be cancelled in the wake of
the worst acts of terrorism on American soil,
it was reported.
According
to the Washington Post, Ramsey announced at a press
conference that he would ask them to postpone their
meeting, citing increased security and tens of thousands
of protestors. The World Bank/IMF meeting was originally
scheduled for a week before being scaled down to two
days.
"I don’t think today is the
day to focus on annual meetings," World
Bank spokeswomen Caroline Anstey is reported
as saying in response to Ramsey’s
statement. "We’ll be taking
into consideration views of the police.
Obviously, there are implications for
the annual meetings, and we’ll
be looking at that over the next couple
of days. Today we are only thinking about
the tragedy and what we can do to help,
but in a day or two, we will certainly
turn our attention to what this means
for the annual meetings."
The same
sentiment was expressed by IMF spokesman
Bill Murray who is quoted
as saying that the Bank and the Fund
would review plans for their meetings
in light of the attacks. "Our hearts
and condolences go out to everybody that
was touched by these tragic events. In
terms of the state of the annual meetings,
I don’t have really any comments
at this time but certainly the issue
will be visited in the days ahead."
The Associated
Press reports that Mayor Tony Williams
will look into the possibility
of requesting a delay. Neither the IMF,
World Bank nor the Mayor’s Office
was available for comment.
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