Regional conflicts have undermined participation in the upcoming World Bank and IMF meeting. Mohamed Darwish reports from Dubai The World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Dubai 2003 Organising Committee are all worried about sinking outlooks for participation in the 23 and 24 September annual meetings of the boards of governors of the two financial institutions. According to sources close to the organisers, some 6,000 of the 16,000 economic experts who were expected to attend in official and non-official capacities are excusing themselves due to regional security fears. The backdrop for these fears includes growing resistance to the US occupation of Iraq, escalating violence on the Israeli-Palestinian arena and the militancy of Islamist groups throughout the Arab world and Asia. Apprehension has not only manifested itself in the dwindling numbers of non-diplomatic attendees. Sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that most of the 184 member states in the World Bank and IMF have decided to reduce the level of their representation in the conference and the size of their delegations. About 50 countries, which were to be represented by their heads of state or prime ministers, will be sending their ministers of finance or economy instead. The unease, according to sources, began to surface several months ago in tandem with the security breakdown in post-war Iraq. It reached its peak with three successive bombings in Iraq last month, all of which hit "soft" non- military targets. The spectre of the tragic blasts at the Jordanian Embassy, the United Nations headquarters and the holy shrine of Al- Najaf hangs alarmingly over prospective participants in the upcoming meetings. This despite Dubai's promise to deliver stringent security precautions that have already won the praise of the World Bank and IMF Joint Secretariat, which is monitoring the implementation of such measures. In their 57-year history, these meetings had never been convened in the Arab world. Understandably, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had high hopes for the event. Although the UAE is the host country, the IMF and World Bank Joint Secretariat have not officially disclosed information regarding the numbers of participants and the names of the heads of delegations, on the grounds that this is confidential information that concerns the IMF and World Bank operations only. Nevertheless, sources say that two years ago the Joint Secretariat "unofficially leaked" to the governments of Dubai and the UAE an estimate of 20,000 attendees. This figure -- nearly double the average attendance of previous meetings -- subsequently appeared in all the press releases issued by the Dubai 2003 Organising Committee, which is headed by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashed Al-Maktum, deputy governor of Dubai and UAE minister of finance and industry. In addition, it was on the basis of this projection that Dubai began construction of the largest convention centre in the Middle East in order to accommodate the anticipated number of attendees in meetings, assemblies and accompanying activities. The government also commenced construction of a number of luxury, first-class hotels, raising the city's capacity at this level from 15,000 to 21,000 rooms, so as to provide for visiting delegations without impinging upon Dubai's regular tourist industry. The governments of the UAE and Dubai allocated a further $274 million for other meeting arrangements. Dubai hopes to demonstrate to global financial leaders and the international media that it is capable of hosting huge events of this nature. Success will catapult it directly into the major league of the billion-dollar industry of conference tourism. In addition, Dubai plans to market itself as another major global financial centre. In order to showcase the modern infrastructure, state-of-the-art communications technology, modern port and transportation facilities, and commercial and financial freedom that qualify it for that status, a security-problem sideshow must be avoided. However, since the US-led coalition's occupation of Iraq, the hopes Dubai had pinned on the forthcoming conference began to dwindle. Recently, sources said, the Joint Secretariat again "leaked" projected numbers of attendees to the Dubai 2003 Organising Committee; this time, however, the news was not so positive: the number of participants would only be 14,000. The Organising Committee, however, optimistically refers to a projection of 16,000 so as to continue to underscore the unprecedented massiveness of the meetings and, more importantly, in order not to convey the impression that the Gulf states suffer from the lack of security affecting the rest of the region. Conference organisers are particularly aware of the negative impact such an impression would have on the flow of investment into Gulf Cooperation Council nations. "Capital is a coward," as the saying goes. The IMF-World Bank Secretariat, which temporarily transferred its offices from Washington to Dubai in August, is of a different mind on the subject of dwindling participants. In its opinion, the Organising Committee should not mention specific numbers. It instead encourages Dubai to adhere to a formulaic press release statement: "Thousands of prominent economic figures will be participating in the meetings." The Joint Secretariat also believes, according to sources, that the $274 million figure Dubai claimed to have earmarked for preparations was an "exaggeration". Given the projected 6,000 withdrawals, Dubai has already reduced the number of hotels allocated to accommodating visiting delegations from 54 to 41, heralding previously unforeseen financial losses. Nevertheless, the government of Dubai remains upbeat. It is planning 20 years ahead, and it has the dynamism to completely capitalise on September's event. The adulation due to the first Arab city to host these meetings is, in itself, a prize, especially considering that it will be many years before the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank Boards of Governors returns to this region.
