Press Release
The Bretton Woods Committee Announces New Working Group on Multilateral Reform
Mon, Apr 25, 2022
Body
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Washington, DC - April 25, 2022)
At Friday’s Bretton Woods Committee Board of Directors meeting in Washington, D.C., the Board agreed to form a new working group to analyze the shortcomings in the international economic architecture and to propose substantive reforms.
The Ukraine-Russia war has underscored the significant fissures and weaknesses in the economic and security arrangements that exist to promote economic prosperity and to sustain peaceful coexistence among nations.
However, significant shortcomings of the current institutions and practices already were evident before the war. On issues such as climate change, public health, trade and finance, recent developments have underscored these weaknesses. Particularly noteworthy is the inability for any consensus to be reached at either last week’s G20 ministerial meeting or at the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank.
The Bretton Woods Committee’s new working group will develop actionable recommendations for reforming the current system of global governance and fortifying the multilateral institutions that comprise it.
Renewed international cooperation and coordination will be required to achieve significant progress toward these goals. China and the United States—as the world’s two largest economies—will have to play a major role in moving such an agenda forward.
The current challenges are substantial, difficult, and complex. At the same time, the need for reform is compelling and urgent, just as it was in 1944, when the IMF and the World Bank were conceived at the Bretton Woods Conference.
The Bretton Woods Committee Announces New Working Group on Multilateral Reform
Mon, Apr 25, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Washington, DC - April 25, 2022)
At Friday’s Bretton Woods Committee Board of Directors meeting in Washington, D.C., the Board agreed to form a new working group to analyze the shortcomings in the international economic architecture and to propose substantive reforms.
The Ukraine-Russia war has underscored the significant fissures and weaknesses in the economic and security arrangements that exist to promote economic prosperity and to sustain peaceful coexistence among nations.
However, significant shortcomings of the current institutions and practices already were evident before the war. On issues such as climate change, public health, trade and finance, recent developments have underscored these weaknesses. Particularly noteworthy is the inability for any consensus to be reached at either last week’s G20 ministerial meeting or at the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank.
The Bretton Woods Committee’s new working group will develop actionable recommendations for reforming the current system of global governance and fortifying the multilateral institutions that comprise it.
Renewed international cooperation and coordination will be required to achieve significant progress toward these goals. China and the United States—as the world’s two largest economies—will have to play a major role in moving such an agenda forward.
The current challenges are substantial, difficult, and complex. At the same time, the need for reform is compelling and urgent, just as it was in 1944, when the IMF and the World Bank were conceived at the Bretton Woods Conference.