IFF Academic Workshop
Topic: The Future of the Bretton Woods Institutions
Background
On the eve of the 80th anniversary annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, the International Finance Forum is pleased to invite you to attend an online event to discuss the the future of the Bretton Woods institutions. We are delighted and honored that Lord Mark Malloch Brown (link to his bio—see below) will join us for this virtual seminar and make a presentation on the Bretton Woods @80 Initiative in which he is playing a key role as a member of the group of global external advisors which has been established to guide this effort (press release on “IMF and World Bank Group Announce Joint Bretton Woods at 80 Initiative.”)
Working with the leadership of the Fund and the Bank, the Bretton Woods @80 Initiative is consulting with a broad range of stakeholders to review the long-term forces that will shape the future of the global economy; how multilateralism may evolve; and what this might mean for the role and work of the IMF and World Bank in the period ahead.
Among the questions being asked are: What kinds of “scenarios” should be taken into account when thinking about the future of the global economy? Which lessons from the past 80 years can be drawn upon to help better navigate these future challenges? How can the Bretton Woods institutions be better equipped and—as needed— reformed to bolster international cooperation and serve their global membership even more effectively in a vastly more complex and challenging world than the one in which they were established 80 years ago?
Speakers
LIN Jianhai, IFF Executive Vice President, Former Secretary of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations
Agenda
October 21, 2024 (Monday, EST)
08:45 - 09:00Warm-up/preparation
09:00 - 09:05Introductory remark by the Moderator
09:05 - 09:25Presentation by Lord Mark Malloch-Brown
09:25 - 09:58Moderated Q&A with online audience
09:58 - 10:00Closing remarks
Speakers' Bio
Mark Malloch-Brown is former president of the Open Society Foundations, the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working for justice, democratic governance, and human rights. He has worked to advance human rights, justice, and development for more than four decades in a variety of roles: with the United Nations, the World Bank, and as a British government minister, as well as with a range of civil society groups and business.
At the United Nations, Malloch-Brown spearheaded the global promotion of the UN Millennium Development Goals as head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 1999 to 2005, under the then UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. At the UNDP, and previously as head of external affairs at the World Bank, Malloch-Brown led reform efforts that were widely seen as increasing the impact of both organizations.
He later served as Kofi Annan’s chief of staff, and then as UN Deputy Secretary General, before joining the British government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as minister responsible for Africa and Asia from 2007 to 2009.
Malloch-Brown was knighted for his contribution to international affairs. Malloch-Brown is a Distinguished Practitioner at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, an adjunct fellow at Chatham House’s Queen Elizabeth Program, and has been a visiting distinguished fellow at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization.
Mr. Jianhai Lin was formerly the Secretary of the IMF and its Board of Governors. He is currently Executive Vice President of the IFF and a member of the Bretton Woods Committee. He is also an honorary professor at School of Economics, Peking University and China Foreign Affairs University, and Advisory Professor at Shanghai International Studies University, as well as a visiting professor at several other universities. Mr. Lin joined the IMF in 1989 and worked as an economist and at other senior positions in various departments. He was appointed to the position of the Secretary in 2012 and he had the operational responsibility for the IMF Executive Board and served as the official contact of the IMF’s 190 member countries on governance reforms and other major policy matters. He was also responsible for organizing the IMF’s Spring and Annual Meetings.