Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group

The IMF and World Bank meet each autumn in what is officially known as the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group and each spring in the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. Names of the two groups are alternated each year so a different one has top billing.

The autumn meetings are customarily held in Washington, D.C., United States for two consecutive years, and in another member country in the third year. On the weekend of the autumn meetings the G7 also meets. The 2006 Annual Meetings and their supporting events were held from 11–20 September 2006 at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Singapore.

Since the mid-1990s, these meetings have centerpoints for anti-globalization movement protests. There have been complete bans on outdoor protests in the 2003 meetings in Dubai, United Arab Emirates as well as the 2006 meeting in Singapore, where only indoor demonstrations within a designated area is permitted. Some argue that such bans are out of safety concerns, while others consider them an effort to curb dissent. These measures has led to retaliatory actions by NGOs who targeted the organisers, as well as the IMF and World Bank for allegedly picking venues which are known to impose such restrictions.

...
Wikipedia