Minutes of the meeting held at the IMF Headquarters in Washington DC on 12 and 13 February 2004

Minutes of the meeting held at the IMF Headquarters in Washington DC on 12 and 13 February 2004. The following members of the Board were present: International Monetary Fund: Mr. Bert E. Keuppens, Senior Advisor. United Nations: Mr. Jean-Pierre Halbwachs, Assistant Secretary-General, Controller. World Bank: Mr. Fayezul Choudhury, Vice-President and Controller. Mr. Chris Hemus, Deputy Chief, Finance Department Ms. Mary Hoare, Officer Mr. Jayantilal Karia, Director, Accounts Division, Mr. Charles McDonough, Director, Accounting Department, Mr. W. Ofosu Amaah, Vice President and Corporate Secretary The meeting was opened on 12 th February 2004 at 1:00PM by the Chair. The agenda for the two day meeting was unanimously adopted. Briefing by the CPA Responding to the Board's request, the CPA provided a useful briefing about the financial functions and the operations of the DFI. The following topics were covered during the briefing. DFI Account Status Oil Proceeds Budget Process Program Review Board Contracting Financial Operation External Audit Update Following a recap of the briefing, the Chair was requested to send a letter to the CPA seeking clarification on a number of issues including: The controls with regards to the extraction of crude oil Contracting process by the CPA, including circumstances relating to single source contracts Oil product barter sales, not currently reflected in the DFI accounts. It was noted that progress had been made in the appointment of external auditors for the DFI. The CPA had started the solicitation process for the external auditors and proposals were due by February 18, 2004. Board members noted that finalization of the appointment process was a priority and requested that the Chair ask the CPA to provide the evaluation and selection criteria that would be used to select the external auditor. The IAMB Website The IAMB website was officially launched on 13 th February 2004. In the press release issued on 13 February 2004, the public was notified of the availability of the site which would serve as the informational platform for the Board. Observers It was noted that the CPA had nominated a candidate to serve as an observer. Noting that the Governing Council of Iraq had not responded to the invitation to nominate candidates to serve as observers to the IAMB, it was agreed that the Chair would send a letter to the Governing Council of Iraq, with a copy to the CPA, urging the council for its nominations. Rules of Procedure The Board adopted the draft Rules of Procedure after minor amendments were made. It was also decided that the Rules of Procedure would be posted on the website. The members agreed to issue a press release highlighting the results of this meeting and to post this press release on the IAMB website. The Minutes for the 5 th and 22 nd December meetings of the IAMB were adopted and posted on the website. The members agreed that the venue of the next meeting will be at the Arab Fund Headquarters in Kuwait at a date to be determined, preferably to coincide with the selection process of the External Auditors. The meeting was adjourned on Friday at 2:30 PM.