This conference brought together distinguished economists and policymakers from a wide range of governments, international organisations, research institutes, universities and non-governmental organisations.

The aim of the conference was to set out the policy choices facing poorer countries and explore whether the lessons from middle income countries are relevant or not. Participants considered the effectiveness of capital controls, and practical-capacity building and policy implementation issues in the poorer countries, particularly in relation to issues around monitoring flows, the effectiveness of monetary policy and the ability to sterilise flows.

The idea was to involve developing countries in the debate, to shift attention away from the recent crisis-ridden countries to other regions and to comprehend the problems that other countries have in the capital account liberalisation process.