To View Current Exhibits, Visit the Exhibits Page on the Archives Website

The World Bank Group Archives Exhibit Series contains exhibits originally published on the Archives’ external website beginning in 2002. When the Archives’ website was transferred to a new platform in 2015, it was decided that older exhibits would be converted to pdf format and made available as a series on the World Bank’s external database, Documents & Reports.

These exhibits, authored by World Bank archivists, highlight key events, personalities, and publications in the history of the World Bank. They also bring attention to some of the more fascinating archival records contained in the Archives’ holdings.

To view current exhibits, visit the Exhibits page on the Archives’ website.

The Boards of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group meet once a year in the fall to discuss the work of their respective institutions. The Annual Meetings, which take place in Washington, DC on October 13th this year, have traditionally been held in Washington, DC for two consecutive years and in another member country every third year.

The 5th Annual Meetings were held in Paris at the Annex of the Bank of France fromSeptember 6-14, 1950. The President of the French Republic, Vincent Auriol, addressed members of the Boards and the public on September 6 followed by a formal joint session of the Boards, to begin the conference's proceedings.

“…it is only through a trusting cooperation between all people, in all fields, that men may be assured of prosperity and peace. It was this very belief which brought the Allies to meet in Bretton Woods in July 1944, while still fighting together on all fronts, in order to set the foundations of financial and economic cooperation between people.” (From theAddress by the President of the Republic of France, Vincent Auriol, to the Governors of the Bank and Fund, September 6, 1950)

Chintaman D. Deshmukh, Chairman of the Boards of Governance and Finance Minister of India presided. Eugene Black, World Bank President,presented the Bank’s Fifth Annual Report to the Bank’s Board of Governors on September 8.

"Up to the present time, we have made loans which total nearly a billion dollars to 17 countries in widely separated parts of the world. We can already begin to see the fruits of these loans; to mention but a few examples, Bank financing is helping to produce steel in Western Europe, to increase timber yield in Eastern Europe, to enable Indian Railways to break bottlenecks which had interfered with the effective distribution of goods, to augment substantially the output of hydroelectric power in the Western Hemisphere, and to expand food production in a number of countries." (From theAddress by Eugene Black, President of the Bank, in presenting the Fifth Annual Report of the Bank to the Board of Governors, September 8, 1950)

During the remaining days of the Annual Meetings, the Governors met in closed session to discuss the annual reports and other items on the agenda. The Bank’s schedule also included three informal panel discussions of its operations, policies and activities.

The Fund’s schedule included discussions by the Governors of exchange, monetary and fiscal problems faced by the member countries at that time.

Meeting Agenda

The Parismeeting agenda included:

·  Fifth Annual Report

·  Financial Statements and Annual Audit

·  Administrative Budget for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1951

·  Establishment of Reserve and Disposition of Surplus

·  Advisory Council of the Bank

·  Third Regular Election of Executive Directors

·  Loan Regulations Nos. 3 and 4 of the Bank

·  Place and Date of Sixth Annual Meeting

·  Election of Officers and Procedures Committee for 1950-51