23 April 2012: The Spring Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued two Communiqués and held a breakfast meeting was among the heads of the UN, the World Bank Group and the IMF with finance ministers from around the world to discuss inclusive green growth and stewardship of the Earth’s natural resources, and how to achieve concrete outcomes at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June.

The Spring Meetings gathered the board of governors to these organizations in the biannual meeting to update the mandate of these institutions and evaluate their activities, from 20-22 April 2012, in Washington, DC. The main plenary of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) addressed the global economic recovery and issued recommendations both for advanced economies and for emerging markets and developing countries, and approved an increase in US$430 billion to “safeguard global financial stability and put the global economic recovery on a sounder footing.”

The Development Committee Communiqué highlighted the Ministerial Dialogue on Sustainable Development held in parallel with the Spring Meetings, with the participation of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and said ministers look forward to continued discussion about “inclusive, green growth in the context of poverty reduction and sustainable development, natural capital accounting and oceans, feeding into the Rio+20 and G20 processes.” Addressing this gathering, Ban Ki-Moon said support of the leading ministers of finance is crucial to the transformation to a green economy, and emphasized the need to seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity to agree on a concrete set of outcomes that will create an inclusive green economy for this and future generations. [Spring Meetings Website, World Bank Blogs, UN Press Briefing 20 April 2012]