This high-level seminar aimed to provide a venue for discussions on inflation targeting policies between, on the one hand, Maghreb countries and other emerging market economies in the Middle Eastern region and, on the other, high-level officials with hands-on experience in implementing these policies, or in the conduct of monetary policy more generally. Participants included the central bank governors, or their representatives, from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. From other regions and institutions, participants included Mr. Carstens, Mexico's Finance Minister, Mr. Vieira da Cunha, Deputy Governor of Banco Central do Brasil, Mr. Knight, Managing Director of the Bank for International Settlements, and Mr. Hrncir, Adviser to the Governor of the Czech National Bank.

The seminar focused on the experience of emerging countries in implementing inflation targeting frameworks. In particular, the cases of Brazil, Mexico, and the Czech Republic were discussed in depth. These discussions helped identify the basic requirements that need to be met in order to ensure the success of the transition to inflation targeting. These include: an operationally autonomous central bank with a clear mandate and policy objectives supported by the government; the existence of effective monetary policy instruments; and reasonable analytical capacities at the central bank. The seminar was followed by a very successful three-day technical workshop attended by experts from the eight countries from the region and IMF staff.

The seminar was organized jointly by the IMF's Monetary and Capital Markets [and Middle Eastern and Central Asia] Department[s], and Morocco's central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib.