ISTANBUL, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's largest city of Istanbulis to host the 2009 annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and related ancillary meetings from Sept. 28 to Oct. 7.

    The meeting, held at the crucial moment of the global economic crisis, is expected to attract about 13,000 people, including central bank governors and finance ministers, local paper Daily News reported Tuesday.

    According to the report, this year's attendees include IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, successful speculator George Soros and the Nobel Prize winner economist Joseph Stiglitz.

    Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer, Turkish Central Bank Governor Durmus Yilmaz and Sabanci Holding Chairwoman Guler Sabanci will also participate in the meetings.

    Sabanci and Strauss-Kahn will meet at a discussion panel to layout countries' responses to the global economic crisis.

    Other attendees include the governors' alternates, members of their delegations and observers from other intergovernmental organizations, such as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as representatives from financial institutions and bodies, journalists and representatives of civil society organizations.

    As part of the meetings this year, a forum will take place between Oct. 3 and Oct. 5, including more than 15 sessions on various topics, such as the global economic crisis and policy responses, emerging Europe and central Asia and the future of the international financial system.

    The meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group each year bring together governors of central bank, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives and academics to discuss issues of global concern, such as the world economic outlook, poverty eradication and economic development.

Special Report:  Global Financial Crisis