Caracas Declaration: Group of 24 Focuses on Lessons of Asian Crisis For Developing Countries

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Meeting in extraordinary session in Caracas, Venezuela, on February 7-9, the Ministers of the Intergovernmental Group of 24, representing the developing countries, focused on the implications of the intensifying integration and participation of developing countries in the global economy. The Group of 24, which is chaired by Antonio Casas González, Governor of the Central Bank of Venezuela, emphasized the need for global cooperation to preserve the stability of the international and economic and financial system-particularly in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. Addressing the meeting on February 7, IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus said, "The task before us is very simple: to keep this crisis from becoming a catastrophe of global proportions." [The full text of Camdessus's speech is available on the IMF's web site at the following address: http://www.imf.org/external/news.htm.]

In the Caracas Declaration, issued on February 9, the Group of 24 agreed to:

- promote an orderly and cautious approach to the liberalization of capital accounts under IMF auspices;

- explore global arrangements for the purpose of securing appropriate sharing of the cost of crisis resolution;

- support efforts to strengthen and coordinate the work of agencies for financial market surveillance and supervision and to pursue discussions in respect of international arrangements for supervision and regulation of financial markets and institutions;

- further the effort to seek permanent and creative solutions to the debt problems and development financing needs of the poorest countries;

- support an expanded role for the SDR in the international monetary system; and

- support national and international...

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