After seven days of meetings and seminars spiced up with state visits and protests, the IMF and World Bank annual meetings ended early Wednesday at Istanbul's Lütfi Kırdar Congress Center.

In his speech Tuesday, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told policymakers from 186 countries that global cooperation had saved the world from a far worse crisis and that leaders should now seize the opportunity to shape a post-crisis world.

“Even if it is much too early to declare victory, we have at least stepped onto the road to recovery,” he said. The meetings were the second time World Bank annual meetings had taken place in Istanbul, the last time being in 1955.

Four reforms

Coming out of the Oct. 4 meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, or IMFC, the policy-steering committee asked the IMF to address four key reform areas – the IMF’s mandate, its financing role, multilateral surveillance and governance.

These "Istanbul Decisions,” Strauss-Kahn said, will be a focal point of IMF activities for the coming year. The committee agreed to maintain stimulative policies until global economic recovery is assured, backing moves to make reforms in the governance of the IMF to give greater voice to dynamic emerging markets and developing countries.

The four decisions include a review of the mandate of the IMF, so that the body encompasses the whole range of macroeconomic and financial sector policies that affect global stability, an assessment of how to build on the success of the Flexible Credit Line, as well as the provision of insurance to more countries as the lender of last resort. They also include an assessment of whether the IMF's enhanced financing instruments, such as the Flexible Credit Line, could help address the question of global imbalances by reducing the need for countries to self-insure against future crises by building up large reserves.

The IMFC endorsed the G-20 proposal that the IMF help with its assessment of new policies – a new kind of multilateral surveillance for the IMF. The panel also endorsed the wide-ranging reforms on the governance front agreed to by the G-20. This will shift quota shares toward dynamic emerging markets and developing countries by at least 5 percent by January 2011.

Deeper global cooperation

Strauss-Kahn noted the IMF is ready to promote and foster deeper global economic cooperation in the future. “The G-20 is more representative than the G-7, but there are still many countries left out, especially in Africa. There are 186 countries in our membership.

These countries include the low-income countries, home to billions who still live in poverty, who remain economically marginalized. Their voices too must be heard. We need cooperation among all the countries of the world,” Strauss-Kahn said.

He also urged the finance ministers and central bank governors to step forward with the necessary commitments to enhance the IMF's legitimacy among its membership, starting with a review of the IMF’s mandate to encompass the whole range of macroeconomic and financial sector policies that affect global stability.

“This crisis had very little to do with current accounts and currency movements, the traditional focus of the IMF's attention. In an era of high-volume and fast-moving capital flows that can extend to every corner of the world, we need a broader mandate,” Strauss-Kahn said.

Protestors "unconstructive"

While protesters took to the streets of Osmanbey, a kilometer away from the conference center, some 1,000 journalists from all over the world packed their bags to return home.

Commenting on the protests, David Theis, media manager of the World Bank, noted it is unfortunate some members of the public opted for "an unconstructive approach" to the meetings by protesting violently on the streets of Istanbul.

"In fact, civil society was included in the meetings between the World Bank and the IMF. We had very constructive sessions with civil society discussing how their concerns can be addressed. It is unfortunate some decided that rather than meet constructively, they would engage in less constructive activities," Theis told Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

On the other hand, he also noted that listening to the voices of the demonstrators is important. "We understand people are frustrated because unemployment is still high and the financial crisis has hurt many people. As Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, it is important to hear the voices of these people as well and see that their frustrations are addressed," Theis added.

World media focuses on Istanbul

Reflecting on the past seven days journalists from several countries noted the critical importance of the timing of the meeting. "The meeting took place at a very critical junction in the world economy. It was amazing to have so many countries with such different domestic agendas and circumstances come here and yet still able to produce the broad outlines of a consensus," a journalist from Reuters based in Asia told the Daily News.

Stella Zhang, correspondent for Caijing Magazine in China agreed. "The discussion on how the economic order will be like after the crisis is important and interesting. This is only the beginning [of recovery]. On the other hand, there are still many question marks regarding the future. We will see how things will carry on – some people are worried that because the crisis is ending and recovery is coming, the momentum of cooperation may fade," she said.

Jung Hyuk-Hoon, reporter for the Maeil business newspaper in South Korea, noted that the Korean media closely followed the meetings in Istanbul. "The IMF and the World Bank have an important role in communicating about the financial crisis. Korea's role in world economy is also growing in importance," he said, adding that some 15 media outlets from South Korea were following the meetings.

Theis said delegates from 186 countries attended the meetings, making the Istanbul event unique. "Like the World Bank president said, unlike any other international meeting this one brings together the G-186. It is 186 countries that have come together here to discuss important decisions that will affect the global economy. This is fantastic. If we take action now in terms of ensuring proper resources for low and middle income countries, we can create faster recovery by making sure those economies grow faster and that will increase trade, exports and jobs," he said.

Economic expectations:

ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency

Turkey will be able to return to the levels of national income it earned in 2008 by the end of 2011, according to the Turkish state minister for the economy.

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said Wednesday that Turkey's national income would be 6 percent less at the end of this year compared to last year.

"We will only be able to return to the national income we earned in 2008 by the end of 2011," he told the state-run TRT-2 channel. Turkey's national income was $741.8 billion, and its national income per capita was $10,479 in 2008.

The global economic crisis will cost Turkey three years, according to Babacan. The country’s trade industry suffered the biggest impact, he said. Another big downfall in Turkey was in employment. The unemployment rate in the country, which was 11 percent at the end of last year, is predicted to reach 14.8 percent by the end of this year.

Unemployment figures should start to drop in the following years, he said. However, he projected the rate would be around 13.5 percent in 2012.

Also, Babacan said Turkey and the IMF would continue technical negotiations.

“Where we stand in talks with the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, is quite obvious,” said Babacan. Turkey and the IMF will continue their talks, he added. “I am the person who handles these talks. Few people are knowledgeable about these talks. Therefore we need to be careful about whose words we are listening to. We need to disregard statements from people who do not have the authority to comment on the issue.”