Introduction

Abstract

When close to a hundred scholars and policymakers from nearly as many developing countries, all chosen on the basis of their experience and expertise, assemble to discuss controversial international monetary and financial issues in a free and open forum, one can be sure of vigorous exchanges. The G-24 Cartagena conference on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Bretton Woods conference was an extremely lively and productive one. It would be foolhardy for anyone to try to summarize so rich a set of proceedings. The papers and the written comments upon them, published here, will have to speak for themselves. But some introductory comments may nevertheless be helpful. This introduction contains: (1) some background on the fiftieth anniversary of Bretton Woods; (2) some comment on the overall structure of the discussions, and the organization of this volume; and (3) a catalogue of the major suggestions made by conference participants (which was prepared at the request of the Chair of the G-24 Deputies and circulated at the G-24 Deputies’ and Ministers’ meetings in Washington in late April 1994).