WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After terrorist attacks in the United States on Tuesday, it was not clear whether the World Bank (news - web sites) and International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) would postpone or cancel their annual meetings due to take place here at the end of this month.
``Today, we are only thinking about the tragedy and what we can do to help,'' Caroline Anstey, head of media relations at the World Bank, said on Tuesday. ``But in a day or two we will have to turn our attention to what can be done about the annual meetings and what the implications are.''
A spokesman for the IMF, Vasuki Shastry, said he had no comment on whether the meetings would proceed as normal, but he added that the issue was likely to be considered on Wednesday, if the staff returned to work then.
The Secret Service (news - web sites), which has been advising the World Bank and the IMF on security for the meetings, said it had not yet received any requests to have the plan for the meetings changed as it focused on the attacks at the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon (news - web sites) outside Washington, D.C.
``We are addressing the current situation,'' Jim Mackin, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, said.
The annual meetings bring together finance ministers and central bank governors from around the world to discuss the global economic situation.
The meetings, currently scheduled for Sept. 29 and Sept. 30, had already been shortened to two days because of the threat of violent protests. Washington, D.C., police were expecting as many as 100,000 demonstrators to converge on the nation's capital to protest the two international lenders' policies, as well as those of President Bush (news - web sites).
Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams also said on Tuesday that in the light of the deadly attacks, holding the meetings as planned represented a huge risk.
``I'm going to talk to our people, talk to people in the council, get the best advice in council and make a decision,'' he told reporters at a news conference. ``But certainly this obviously poses a huge risk.''
Protest organizers said they, too, would be considering what action to take about their planned actions surrounding the meetings.
``We haven't had the ability to talk about it yet,'' said Adam Eidinger of the Mobilization for Global Justice, a coalition of groups that is organizing massive demonstrations during the meetings. ``People should take some time to mourn and the decision will be made after careful consideration,''
In the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor in 1941, three hijacked planes slammed into the Pentagon and New York's landmark World Trade Center on Tuesday. At the WTC, two of the planes demolished the two 110-story towers that have symbolized U.S. financial might. Later in the day a third and smaller WTC tower that had been burning also collapsed.
No death toll was immediately released. Officials feared that the number of victims could climb into the thousands, however, since 40,000 people worked in the soaring steel and glass Trade Center towers and thousands of commuters and tourists passed through the complex daily.
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