Russian finance minister to attend IMF, World Bank annual meetings

Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin will attend the annual meetings of the boards of governors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and a session of the G8 finance ministers scheduled for September 23-26 in Washington.

Kudrin is to discuss with his G8, Chinese, Indian, Brazilian, and South African counterparts the situation on the world oil market, international aid, and financing the fight against terrorism, the Finance Ministry said.

A source in the Russian delegation to the annual meetings said that Kudrin and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown would discuss Russia's upcoming G8 chairmanship. The G8 finance ministers will focus on the concept of Russia's 2006 chairmanship, RIA Novosti reported.