The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) fall meetings will take place this weekend and early next week in Istanbul, Turkey. This year’s meetings will focus on the impact of the global financial crisis on developing countries and “the road to recovery.”

Among the main points on the agenda are:

1. Progress and further solutions needed to help countries hit hard by the financial crisis, particularly related to downturns in capital flows, trade, remittances and tourism.
2. Financial capacity of the World Bank and IMF to respond to the needs of developing countries hit hardest by the financial crisis. The World Bank and IMF have both recognized increase demand from developing countries that are trying to cope with the impacts of the financial crisis.
3. Climate issues in the run up to the international negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009.
4. Review of progress of the current round of funding of the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) – that’s the branch that provides no-interest loans and grants to the world’s poorest countries.
5. Changes in governance of the international financial institutions (the IMF, World Bank, etc.) to increase voice and participation of emerging and developing countries.

You can track the events in Istanbul on the World Bank blog and we’ll be posting more of our reactions here in the coming days.