• How are the established "brick and mortar" banks responding to the challenges posed by the new Internet competitors?
• What strategies are the newcomers adopting in the business-to-business and business-to consumer arenas?
• What is the implication of e-finance for developing countries?

• Akshaya Bhargava is eBusiness Head of Central Europe for Citibank in the Czech Republic where he is currently in charge of strategic Internet initiatives for Citibank. He has extensive commercial banking experience in Asia, Africa and Central and Eastern Europe. He has been a trainer for Citibank at its worldwide Training Centers for programs on Trade Finance, Cash Management and People Development.
• David Furlonger is Research Director in financial services for GartnerGroup's Research and Advisory Services. His research agenda focuses on management strategies, challenges and technologies in the securities, investment and treasury industries. Prior to joining GartnerGroup, he was involved in designing and deploying one of the first fully integrated financial Web sites and a "live to air" national television program. He was in investment and international banking with Williams & Glyn's, Baring Brothers and Commerzbank.

• What are the macroeconomic and structural policies necessary to facilitate economic integration with the European Union?
• What, if any, tradeoffs are involved in successful implementation of these policies?
• How can policymakers help to smooth the process of economic integration with the European Union?

• Marek Belka is Economic Adviser to the President of the Republic of Poland and has held the position of Deputy Prime Minister in the Ministry of Finance. Mr. Belka also advises the Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania and works as a consultant on behalf of the World Bank Group. He is a Professor at the Institute of Economics in Warsaw, a member of Board of Directors of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation and Vice President of the Board of the Know-How Foundation.
• Pedro Solbes is a Member of the Commission of European Communities responsible for Economic and Monetary Affairs. Before joining the European Commission in September 1999, he was President of the Joint Committee of the Spanish Parliament on the European Union and Minister of Economics and Finance in Spain. He holds a position as Invited Professor at the University of Alicante in Spain.
• György Surányi is President of the National Bank of Hungary. Previously, he was Managing Director of the Central European International Bank Ltd., Secretary of State of the National Planning Office of Hungary, Counselor to the Deputy Prime Minister, a Research Fellow and Head of Department at the Financial Research Institute in Budapest. He has been a Professor of Finance in the Budapest University of Economics since 1989.
• Charles Wyplosz is Professor of Economics at the Graduate Institute in International Studies, University of Geneva, and a Research Fellow of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). He is Managing Editor of Economic Policy and serves on the scientific board of several scientific reviews. He has served as consultant to various organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group, the United Nations, the European Parliament, the French Government, the European Commission, the Harvard Institute for International Development, and the Committee for the Study of the Independence of the Bank of England.

• What are the roles of business, civil society, and government in sound corporate citizenship?
• How does one create a business and policy environment that supports sound corporate citizenship?
• Can sound business ethics and practices improve corporate competitiveness and the corporate bottom line?
• What is, and should be, the role of the private sector in society?

• Sonja Bata is Director on the Board of Bata International and Vice Chairman of the Bata Shoe Foundation. She has served on the boards of various nonprofit organizations in Canada and internationally, including Junior League Achievement, The Mentor Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund.
• Hilary Bowker is President of Bowker Media + Communications which devises communications strategies to help companies and organisations stay ahead of the media curve. She also moderates conferences and seminars and works on video projects in partnership with the London based Amazing Productions. Previously she was Senior European Anchor for CNN.
• Carlo di Florio is Director of the Global Risk Management Solutions Group in the New York office of PricewaterhouseCoopers. An international lawyer by training, Carlo specializes in corporate ethics, governance and sustainability strategies for multinational clients. He has directed numerous international business ethics investigations, both on behalf of governments and corporations, and regularly advises clients on global integrity and sustainability programs that leverage innovative technology tools.

• How relevant are the traditional "optimal currency area" arguments for currency unions in the current environment?
• What would be the reaction of international capital markets vis-à-vis public and private debt?
• Are the loss of monetary autonomy, seignorage revenues, and the traditional "lender of last resort function" serious problems?
• Would early, unilateral Euro-ization make the transition to European central Bank membership easier for Central and Eastern European economies?

• Zanny Minton Beddoes is Economics Correspondent for The Economist based in Washington D.C. She has been responsible for coverage of the American economy as well as international financial issues. Before moving to Washington, she was the emerging-markets correspondent for The Economist in London. Prior to joining The Economist, Ms. Minton Beddoes was an economist at the International Monetary Fund.
• Eduardo Borensztein is Chief of the Developing Country Studies Division in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund. He has led studies on dollarization. Previously, he was an economist at the Central Bank of Argentina and at the Foundation for Economic Studies of Latin America (FIEL).
• Rudi Dornbusch is Ford International Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he has taught since 1975. He is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, the Advisory Board of the Institute for International Economics and the Academic Panel of the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Boston. Mr. Dornbusch's areas of expertise include currency problems, stabilization and opening of the world economy.
• Paulo C. Leme is Managing Director of Emerging Markets Research for Goldman, Sachs and Company covering Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He coordinates a team of economists developing macroeconomic and sovereign credit risk analysis for emerging markets. Before joining Goldman, Sachs and Co., he was a Senior Economist in the International Monetary Fund.

• What is the international development community doing to follow up in the priority areas identified in the task force report?
• How can the multilateral institutions and other donors harmonize their policies and procedures to reduce the demands on small states’ scarce institution capacity and more proactively address the needs of the small states?

• Gordon Shroff is Deputy Secretary responsible for New Zealand’s political and development relations with the South Pacific. He was previously Director of Development Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has seerved in New Zealand missions in Samoa, New York and London.

• Is there a self-interest of the private sector in appropriate public regulations? Can these regulations be assured through private sector rules of conduct and self-regulation?
• What is the needed scope and where are the limits of public regulation and supervision?
• Is there a difference between countries at different stages of market development?
• Can public agencies—in particular, revenue collectors—play a useful role in achieving administrative efficiencies and assuring compliance, or do they impede progress?

• Lynn Dudley is Vice President and Senior Counsel for the Association of Private Pension and Welfare Plans (APPWP). In the Special Advocacy Program, Ms. Dudley works closely with legislative and executive branch officials to address issues of concern to members. She has served as Vice President for Retirement Policy for APPWP.
• Willy Palm is Director of the General Secretariat, Association Internationale de la Mutualité (AIM) in Luxembourg. He has been Advisor for the European Institute of Social Security Law at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium and Chief of Staff at the Research and Development Department of the Alliance Nationale des Mutualités Chrétienne which is Belgium’s largest health fund.

• What role will Western financial institutions play in the region’s financial systems?
• What new challenges will confront financial regulators in the region’s countries?
• What should European and Central Asian countries do to reduce their vulnerability to contagion from international financial crises?

• Jacques de Larosière is Advisor to BNP Paribas. He was appointed President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in 1993, Governor of the Banque de France in 1987, and appointed Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund in 1978. He served as United States Chairman of The Per Jacobsson Foundation, as Trustee of Reuters Founders Share Company Limited, as President of the Observatoire de l’Epargne Européenne (OEE), and is a member of the Board of Directors for Power Corporation, ALSTOM, and France Telecom.
• Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa is Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank. His previous career included appointments as Director General for Economic and Financial Affairs at the Commission of the European Communities, Deputy Director General of the Banca d’Italia and Chairman of Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB). He has held the positions of Joint Secretary to the Delors Committee, Chairman of the Banking Advisory Committee of the European Commission and Chairman of the Basle Committee.
• Josef Tošovský is Governor of the Czech National Bank. He acted as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic in 1998. Mr. Tošovský has been Deputy Manager of the Czech Commercial Bank in London and President of the State Bank of Czechoslovakia. He has been an advisor in the banking sector, particularly to the Central Bank.

• Which key conditions are required to make financial systems more resilient to adverse shocks and foster financial system stability?
• Which lessons and challenges in assessing financial system risks and vulnerabilities, have emerged in recent years, including assessing observance with international standards, codes, and good practices?
• Which are the tools available to assess financial systems?

• Andrew Crockett is Chairman of the Financial Stability Forum. His previous appointments include Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Research Department, and Executive Director of the Bank of England. He has been General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements. He was also a member of the Monetary Committee of the European Union and Chairman of the Working Party Three of the OECD.
• Morris Goldstein is the Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow in International Finance at the Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C. Previously, he served as a staff member of the International Monetary Fund and was Deputy Director of the Research Department. He has published widely in the field of international economics, particularly on capital flows.
• Bimal Jalan is Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He has held other high level positions in the Government of India such as Banking Secretary, Finance Secretary and Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council. Mr. Jalan has served as the Executive Director repesenting India on the Boards of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group.
• V. Sundararajan is Deputy Director of the Monetary and Exchange Affairs Department in the International Monetary Fund. He oversees the technical assistance and advisory services on monetary and financial issues. He manages the joint World Bank Group and International Monetary Financial Sector Assessment Program. Mr. Sundararajan has published articles and books on central banking reforms and banking crises and restructuring.

• What have been the effects of privatization?
• How do these vary from one set of transition countries to another?
• Do some owners perform better than others?
• What are the effects on restructuring of soft budgets and competition policies?
• What methods, procedures, and policies should transition governments adopt to complete the privatization process?

• John Nellis is Senior Manager in the Private Sector Development Department in the World Bank Group. He has worked on public enterprise reform and divestiture issues worldwide with special emphasis on privatization in transition economies. Mr. Nellis held university positions prior to joining the World Bank Group
• Marko Simoneti is Executive Director of Central and Eastern Privatization Network (CEEPN) Slovenia. He is Professor for Finance at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has lectured and published extensively on financial reforms, restructuring of enterprises and, on the privatization issues in transitional economies.

• What should be done to stimulate greater private savings in general and increased deposit mobilization in particular? And what will it take for banks to concentrate more on financing their corporate clients in the new decade?
• Have banking crises in the Europe and Central Asia held back the development of the real and financial sectors?
• What might be done to better prepare the capital markets to handle long long-term flows of funds that will result from pension reform in some countries?

• Abdulla Abdukadirov is Senior Advisor to the Board of Managers of ABN AMRO Bank NB in Uzbekistan. He has served as Chief of the Ministry of Finance's Tax Department; as Deputy Chairman of the State Tax Committee; and as Deputy Finance Minister. Mr. Abdukadirov then served as General Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan where he developed the basic legal scheme for establishment of the securities markets
• Stefan Kawalec is Chief Advisor to the Management Board of Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A. As Vice Minister of Finance from 1991 to 1994, he was responsible for the restructuring and privatization of Polish banks and headed the preparation and implementation of the law on financial restructuring of enterprises and banks. He was involved in designing and implementing the Polish stabilization and transformation program as General Director in the Ministry of Finance. On various occasions, he served as a consultant on issues of financial system reforms and bank privatization in various Central and East European countries on behalf of the World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund and Harvard Institute of International Development
• Istvan Szalkai is Chairman of the Board of Kereskedelmi es Hitelbank (K&H Bank) in Hungary. He has been President of the Hungarian Money and Capital Market Supervision. He has served as Deputy President of the National Bank of Hungary, Chairman of the Hungarian Credit Bank and Director General of the International Training Center for Bankers. Mr. Szalkai has been a consultant to several international organizations including the International Monetary Fund in Uzbekistan and Belarus.
• Dmitry Glinski Vasiliev is Senior Research Associate at the Institute for World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is currently involved in a collective project on European security institutions at the Moscow Carnegie Center. Mr. Vasiliev’s academic interests include domestic determinants of foreign policy behavior from a comparative perspective, particularly in Russia and the United States.

• What is the rationale for gender equality in economic development and in the private sector?
• What do we know about the benefits and costs of gender equality for the bottom line and for development? Does mobilizing women’s participation in the private sector translate into competitive advantages?
• What lessons can be drawn from the development community’s experiences and from the ECA region’s experience in terms of promoting gender equality?
• What are specific steps that corporations can take to promote women that will also improve their competitive advantage, as well as empower key client groups?

"Advancing Gender Equality: World Bank Actions Since Beijing." (Click on the link to see the page.)
Prepared by the Gender and Development Group, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, for the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly: Beijing+5: Women 2000 - Gender Equality, Development, and Peace for the 21st Century. New York, June 2000.

• Elizabeth M. King is Lead Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank Group. She is one of two authors of the forthcoming Policy Research Report on Gender and Development to be published in Fall 2000. Ms. King has had professional experience in several countries in East and South Asia, Latin America, and Africa, and has published extensively on education and labor market issues in developing countries.
• Andrew Mason is Senior Economist in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network of the World Bank Group. He is a co-author of the forthcoming Policy Research Report on Gender and Development. Prior to joining the World Bank Group Mr. Mason worked as an economic policy analyst for the Harvard Institute for International Development in Indonesia.
• Cherie Piebes is Program Director of IBM Global Small Business, Women Entrepreneurs. In her current role as Global Program Director, Ms. Piebes is responsible for the management of women entrepreneurs programs, customer relations and association management in Asia Pacific, Europe, and Latin America. She is a member of the Board of Directors of four women’s associations in the United States.
• Mamphela Ramphele is Managing Director of the World Bank Group. As a member of the senior management team, Dr. Ramphele is responsible for managing the institution’s human development activities in the areas of education, health, nutrition, population, and social protection. She provides oversight and guidance to the World Bank Group‘s efforts with client governments in strengthening human development support systems. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, she was Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town.
• Ludmila N. Zavadskaya is Director of the Gender Law Program at the American Bar Association Central and East European Law Initiative (CEELI), which is a multifaceted program focusing on Domestic Violence prevention and on the issue of implementation of equal rights and opportunities for men and women. Prior to her current position, she was Executive Director of Moscow Notaries Chamber, Deputy Minister for the Russian Ministry of Justice and Advisor to the Foundation of Russian Parliamentary System Development. >Ms. Zavadskaya was a Member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation and served as Chairwoman of Sub-Committee for Human Rights and Federal Legislation.

• José Angel Gurría Treviño is Secretary of Finance and Public Credit and Governor. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Gurría served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. As Undersecretary for International Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, he headed the technical team in charge of restructuring Mexico's external public debt, and co-chaired the negotiating team of the financial chapter for North American Free Trade Agreement. He has been President and CEO of the National Bank of Foreign Trade (BANCOMEXT), and Nacional Financiera (NAFIN), Mexico's development