IMF-World Bank Development Committee meeting kicks off

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A joint committee of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund began its spring meeting here on Sunday.

The Development Committee, a forum that facilitates intergovernmental consensus-building on development issues, is set to discuss the most comprehensive reform program in the World Bank's history.

The bank's 186 shareholders will decide on whether to support the first capital increase at the World Bank in more than 20 years, and whether to increase shares of the developing countries.

After a first phase of reforms agreed in 2008, developing countries have a 44 percent share in the World Bank. At the Pittsburgh G20 summit in September 2009 and the Istanbul Development Committee in October 2009, the bank's shareholders agreed to move to at least 47 percent for developing and transition countries.

The World Bank is on a turning point, and shareholders of the bank must keep their promise to give developing countries "a bigger say" in the international financial organization, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Thursday.

The World Bank chief said that developing countries are key sources of demand for the global economic recovery, and over time, they can become multiple poles of growth.