Registration for the meeting will begin on Wednesday, March 22, and the plenary sessions of the Bank's Board of Governors will be held March 27-29 at the Morial Convention Center. The plenary sessions will be preceded by 11 official seminars on development issues as well as other activities and meetings sponsored by both the IDB and interested organizations.

The annual meeting, the premier world forum on development for Latin America and the Caribbean, is expected to attract thousands of public and private sector officials, observers, special guests and journalists in addition to the official delegations of the Bank's 46 members countries.

The IDB has been the leading source of multilateral development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean for the past six years. Last year Bank lending to the region totaled $9.5 billion and disbursements were a record $8 billion.

IDB governors hold the rank of finance ministers, economy ministers, or central bank presidents and constitute the institution's top policy-making body.

The Memorandum of Understanding, in which the United States agrees to be the official host of the meeting and the city of New Orleans its official site, was signed by IDB President Enrique Iglesias; William E. Schuerch, deputy assistant secretary for international development of the U.S. Treasury Department; and Troy Carter, chairman of the Special Projects Committee of the city of New Orleans.

During the Annual Meeting the IDB Board of Governors will review the 1999 Annual Report and evaluate the Bank's lending program. Bank financing in recent years has placed increasing emphasis on reform of the state, education, social investment, as well as on macroeconomic stability and economic growth.

Response to natural disasters --such as Hurricane Mitch, El Niño climate phenomenon, recent flooding in Venezuela, and the 1999 earthquake in Colombia's coffee-producing region-- have become important areas of Bank concern and financing, as are projects for environmental protection and private sector development.

Among the topics the governors will discuss is a strategy document for the next century prepared jointly by IDB management and the Bank's Board of Executive Directors.

The governors of the Inter-American Investment Corporation, a member of the IDB Group that supports private sector growth through loans and investments for medium-sized and small enterprises, are expected to discuss admitting new countries as members in conjunction with a capital increase.

The official seminars during the Annual Meeting include:

• "America XXI: Information Technology for Efficient, Equitable and Sustainable Development" (March 23 and March 24, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.)
• "Building Human and Social Capital: The Strategic Importance of Investing in Youth Development and Participation" (March 24, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and March 27, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.)
• "Development of the Rural Economy and Poverty Reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean" (March 24, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.)
• "Confronting Natural Disasters: A Matter of Development" (March 25, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and March 26, 9:30 a.m. to noon)
• "New Vision for Sustainability: Private Sector and the Environment" (March 25, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.)
• "The Bank's Initiative on Climate Change: New Opportunities and Challenges" (March 25, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.)
• "New Directions in Heritage Preservation in Latin America and the Caribbean" (March 25, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
• "Politics and Governance in Latin America" (March 25, 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.)
• "New Policies for a New Financial Landscape: Should We Prepare for a Switch to Foreign Direct Investment" (March 26, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
• "Socially Responsive Macroeconomics" (March 26, 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.)
• "Commercial Banks and Financing for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises: The Need for a Closer Alliance" (March 26, 2:45 p.m. to 6 p.m.)

All but one of the seminars will be held at the Morial Auditorium. The seminar on climate change will be held at Tulane University.

The IDB was created in 1959 to help accelerate the economic and social development of Latin America and the Caribbean. As of Jan. 1, 1999, it has approved 2,562 loans totaling $95.6 billion, supporting projects with a total cost of $240 billion.

The Bank's headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. The institution has offices in all 26 countries of its borrowing country members, as well as an office in Paris for European affairs and an office in Tokyo.