Forum on changes in World Bank and IMF activities
Talks of the kind that Mr Manuel is calling for have been under way in Prague this week at a two-day forum in one of Prague's Protestant churches. Olga Szantova attended the event:
It was like walking into a different, sane world after all the violence in the streets of Prague. Young people, some of them Czech, some from abroad, were not only criticizing, but, above all, discussing ways of changing what they saw was wrong with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The forum, called A Different Message, was organized by Jubilee 2000, Friends of the Earth, CEE Bankwatch and other non-governmental organizations. Also present were representatives of the World Bank and the IMF. One of the organizers of the forum, coordinator of the CEE Bankwatch Network for the Czech Republic, Pavel Pribyl, told me what topics were on the agenda: