In the Monterrey Consensus, agreed at the 2002 International Conference on Financing for Development, held in Monterrey, Mexico, world leaders committed to broaden and strengthen the voice and participation of developing countries in international economic decision-making and norm-setting. This commitment reflected the perceived need to increase the representativeness of the Bretton Woods institutions, which operate within a governance structure largely defined six decades ago. It also reflected the need to adjust other multilateral financial institutions, such as the Bank for International Settlements, to a global environment characterized by the growing importance in the world economy of a dynamic group of developing countries and to give developing countries in general, some representation in policy-making and norm-setting bodies where they have no formal participation, such as the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision and the Financial Stability Forum.

This commitment has translated thus far into some actions and an ongoing discussion on the Bretton Woods institutions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have strengthened the offices of African Directors and some European countries have created an Analytical Trust Fund to support the African Chairs. These changes have been motivated by the evident concern to maintain the legitimacy of these institutions as representative global entities. The International Monetary and Financial Committee aptly summarized the major issue at stake in its communiqué of April 2005: