§ 53. Lieut.-Colonel Niģel Birchasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has any statement to make on the meeting of the World Bank and Fund at Savannah.
59. Mr. Norman Smithasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has received a report from the British 1105 delegation to the meeting at Savannah, Georgia, at which the World Bank and World Fund were set up; and will he make a statement thereon.
§ Mr. H. MorrisonI will circulate a statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Following is the statement:
I am glad to be able to tell the House that the new twin institutions, the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, were duly inaugurated at the first meeting of the Boards of their Governors, which took place at Savannah, Georgia, from 8th to 18th March under the Chairmanship of the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Mr. Vinson, who is U.S. Governor of both institutions. The United Kingdom Governor is Lord Keynes. The five countries having the largest quotas (or subscriptions), which, in the absence of Russia, are the U.S.A., the United Kingdom, France, China and India, are entitled to nominate their own executive directors. The United Kingdom executive directors have not yet been appointed. The other member countries are entitled to elect seven executive directors between them for each institution. The elections held at Savannah resulted as follows:
For the Fund, Mr. Rasminsky (Canada), Dr. Bruins (Netherlands), Mr. Mladek (Czechoslovakia), M. Gutt (Belgium), Zaki Bey Saad (Egypt), Mr. Santos Filho (Brazil) and Mr. Gomez (Mexico); for the Bank, Mr. Bryce (Canada), Mr. Beyen (Netherlands), Mr. Baranski (Poland), M. Gutt (Belgium), Mr. Varvaressos (Greece), Mr. Moller (Chile) and Mr. Machado (Cuba).
It has been provided that the executive directors shall meet and take office about 1st May next, when it is hoped to proceed with the election of a managing director of the Bank and a president for the Fund, who will thereafter proceed to the appointment of other staff. Especially in the case of the Bank it is important that the necessary preliminaries to active operation should be completed as soon as possible, so that the institutions can play their intended part in assisting the problems of world reconstruction.
Decisions were taken as to their site, which, at the request of the United States, will be at Washington, and also as to the functions and remuneration of the execu- 1106 tive directors. Denmark was admitted to both bodies and her quota fixed. The main work of the meetings was concerned with the organisation of the institutions, so that all necessary powers would have been accorded to the executive directors to enable them to proceed at the earliest possible date to bring the institutions into active operation.
It was also decided that the first annual meeting of the governors should take place in September of this year. Meanwhile a Procedure Committee of twelve governors has been set up under the chairmanship of the Governor for the United States and the vice-chairmanship of the governor for the United Kingdom. to be available until the next annual meeting for consultation about the future business of the governors at the discretion of the Chairman, normally by correspondence, and also, if it proves convenient, by convening immediately before the annual meeting.
Although the main work of the meetings was thus concerned with organisation, a gathering of this kind of the financial experts of many countries provided a most useful opportunity for informal exchanges of views on many of the problems confronting the countries represented at the meetings. From the reports of the Conference, which the members of the British Delegation have given me, it is clear that the cause of international cooperation over the economic and financial field has been considerably helped forward by the atmosphere and outcome of this Conference.
I intend shortly to issue a White Paper containing the bye-laws of the two institutions and other significant votes passed by the conference.