The Cabinet, during its meeting on 23 May 2023, was pleased with and acknowledged Thailand’s hosting of the 2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG).

The Boards of Governors of the WBG and the IMF recently approved the selection of Thailand as host of their annual meetings in October 2026 in Bangkok. The Ministry of Finance of Thailand on 18 April 2023 received a letter from the WBG and the IMF informing it about this matter.

The annual meetings are among the most important meetings of the WBG and the IMF that bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private-sector leaders, civil society, media, and academics to discuss the most pressing issues facing the global economy.

The meetings are usually held for two consecutive years at the WBG and IMF headquarters in Washington, D.C., and every third year in one of the institutions’ member countries. The upcoming 2023 annual meetings will take place this October in Marrakech, Morocco. The IMF is an organization of 190 countries, and the WBG comprises 189 member countries.

The Cabinet was told that the Ministry of Finance would form a joint committee of the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Thailand and other relevant agencies to prepare for hosting the 2026 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the WBG.

Thailand became a member of the IMF and the WBG on 3 May 1949. It hosted the annual meetings of the IMF and the WBG once, in 1991, in Bangkok. Apart from the annual meetings in 2026, Thailand had also been chosen to host the International Horticultural Expo 2026, to be held from 1 November 2026 to 14 March 2027 in the northeastern province of Udon Thani.

Thailand had also presented its candidacy to host the global "Specialized Expo 2028” in Phuket from 21 March to 20 June 2028, under the title of "Expo 2028 – Phuket.”