From new procedures at the International Monetary Fund for tackling economic crises to World Bank proposals to write off poor nations' debts, the meetings touched many of the problems created by an increasingly intertwined global economy.
"We are at a point in history full of promise and of danger," U.S. President Bill Clinton told the IMF/World Bank meeting Wednesday. "To succeed, we must change the approaches of the past to meet the demands of the future."
There was no lack of suggestions of how to do that. But what seemed missing was the political leadership needed to forge a consensus and the money needed to back it up.
On the surface, the world economic outlook could not look much brighter. After a pause earlier this year, economic growth in the industrial countries is heating up.
The dollar has recovered from a steep descent, helped by a rare show of coordination among the United States and its rich industrial allies in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations.
The G-7 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- welcomed the dollar's rise as good for the world economy, and called for more.
After some hesitation, the markets complied. Tough talking from a host of European ministers also helped head off a potentially dangerous currency crisis on the continent.
But policymakers agree that much more needs to be done to help keep the world economy on an even keel.
New procedures have been adopted to prevent or contain future crises such as the one that drove Mexico to the brink of default on its foreign debts in January. But the financial muscle to back up the bureaucratic guidelines is lacking.
"We still need your active cooperation ... to strengthen the fund's resources," IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus told the meeting's closing session Thursday. "Here there is an unfinished agenda."
During the meetings, rich industrial nations proposed a plan for a $50 billion war chest at the IMF to attack future financial emergencies.
But faced with the need to cut bloated budgets, they have been forced to look to smaller industrial nations and the emerging economic powerhouses of Asia for some of the cash. So far, the response has been cautious.
The outlook, if anything, is even grimmer when it comes to finding money to help the world's poorest countries in Africa and South Asia.
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