A budget of Dh600 million ($163,370m) has been allocated by Dubai for the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) meeting scheduled in the emirate in September 2003, reported Emirati official news agency (WAM).
The agency said that out of the total budget, Dh350 million ($95,2m) will go towards the construction of the 6,000-seat convention center.
"The World Bank-IMF conference will create a lot of jobs for our young nationals. Their experience in handling jobs during the event will help us to handle similar conferences in future," said Ibrahim Belselah, general coordinator for Dubai 2003 as quoted by the 'Gulf News'. He said preparations are running to schedule with a new convention center and an extra hall at the Dubai World Trade Center and new hotels coming up in time for the opening.
The summit will be held from September 23 to 24, 2003. "This is the largest international convention to be held in the Middle East. In every summit, between 12 to 15 heads of states, finance ministers and central bank governors of most member states usually participate.
"The number of heads of states and finance ministers attending the Dubai summit will be higher than usual. All 183 member countries will join. We are expecting 16,000 to 20,000 delegates," Belselah said – Albawaba.com
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