International Monetary Fund Director Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank President Ajay Banga and Moroccan Economy Minister Nadia Fattah Alaoui announced on Monday that meetings in Marrakesh will continue despite the September 8 earthquake that killed more than 2,900 people in the nearby High Atlas Mountains region.
They said in their statement that they would make some changes to their meeting plans to adapt “to the circumstances” of the disaster.
In response to a question about what changes should be made to the meetings, which are expected to bring more than ten thousand people to Marrakesh, Yellen told reporters, “I will leave it to the heads of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to work with the Moroccan government and come up with what is appropriate and possible.”
“Of course, we have to respect the tragedies that occurred in this country and the need for emergency personnel to be able to care for those affected by the earthquake,” she added.
Yellen said after an event on climate finance in New York that she would have understood if the decision had been made to hold the meetings elsewhere, and that she would support any changes that the Fund, the Bank and Morocco might deem appropriate.
She said, “This is what the Moroccan government strongly wants. It wants the meetings to continue and feels that it is able to do what is necessary… We want to be of help to the people in Morocco.”
Georgieva told Reuters on Friday that the Moroccan Prime Minister told her that not holding the meetings in Marrakesh would be “very devastating” for its hospitality sector.
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