Conference on Development Economics

This year the World Bank Conference on Development Economics 2006 will take place on May 29-30, 2006 in Tokyo, Japan. The areas of discussion will be on infrastructure and growth, climate change, energy efficiency, rural development, agriculture etc. The theme of the discussion is "Rethinking infrastructure for development". This is being organized by the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance of Japan.

The speakers in the conference are as follows:

• Sadakazu Tanigaki, Minister of Finance, Japan
• Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank
• Sadako Ogata, President, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
• Joseph Stiglitz, Professor, Columbia University
• Richard Manning, Chairman, Development Assistance Committee, OECD
• Haruhiko Kuroda, President, Asian Development Bank
• Francois Bourguignon, Chief Economist and Senior Vice-President of the World Bank

For the year 2006, the conference is going to be held in East Asia. For this time Japan will play a very significant role. This conference in Tokyo 2006 will be a milestone towards the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the IMF to be held in Singapore in September 2006.