The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have announced a collaboration to host an annual conference focusing on emerging markets. The event is set to take place in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, with its inaugural session scheduled for February 16-17, 2025.
Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, and Mohamed Al-Jadaan, Minister of Finance of Saudi Arabia, issued a joint statement addressing the challenges currently facing global economies. "The world is confronting deeper and more frequent shocks, including from conflicts, geoeconomic fragmentation, pandemics, climate change, food insecurity, and the digital divide," they stated. They emphasized that without adequate measures, these issues could undermine improvements in living standards within emerging market economies and threaten global growth and stability.
The upcoming Al-Ula Conference for Emerging Market Economies aims to gather finance ministers, central bank governors, policymakers from emerging markets along with leaders from both public and private sectors. It will also include representatives from international institutions and academia. The conference seeks to provide a platform for discussing economic developments at various levels and exploring policies to promote inclusive prosperity through robust international cooperation.
"The Al-Ula Conference for Emerging Market Economies will convene a select group of emerging markets’ ministers of finance, central bank governors, and policymakers," the statement continued. The goal is to exchange views on domestic, regional and global economic developments while discussing necessary reforms.