G20 finance ministers begin talks with focus to reform World Bank and IMF

Finance ministers from the world's largest 20 economies began talks Saturday in South Africa focusing on reforming the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The two-day gathering in Kleinmond, near Cape Town, is the first time the G20 group of bank chiefs and finance ministers has met in an African country.
It is also the first time the new head of the World Bank, the American Robert Zoellick, and the new head of the IMF, France's Dominique Strauss-Kahn, will hold round-table talks with the G20. The conference will hear calls for the modernisation of both institutions.
"The subject will be at the heart of our talks," South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said at a preliminary press conference. "The unequal power balance in the world economic system" will be brought up, South African Central Bank governor Tito Mboweni said.
Many emerging powers within the G20, such as South Africa, believe that the current set-up of the IMF and the World Bank do not take into account the demands of developing countries. "The world has changed, it is not like it was 50 years ago. Countries like Brazil, India or South Africa need greater consideration," Strauss-Kahn admitted recently.
The G20 represents nearly 90 percent of the world economy and two thirds of its population. It includes the wealthy G-7 nations - the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Britain and Canada - as well as the European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey.
Strauss-Kahn, a former Socialist finance minister of France, took over at the IMF this month. His candidacy was backed by South Africa on the condition that the developing world's representation in the 185-nation institution would be significantly increased on his watch. Zoellick, who became president of the World Bank in July after being hand-picked by US President George W. Bush, gained experience of the developing world with previous posts as number two in the State Department and as US Trade Representative from 2001-2005.