The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank confirmed on Monday that their annual meeting will be hosted – as planned – next month in Marrakesh, even though the region was recently hit by a devastating earthquake that killed more than 2,900 people.

The meeting will be held the week of October 9-15 in Marrakesh, which is located 72 kilometers from the epicenter of the September 8 earthquake, with some modifications to adapt the content “to the current conditions”, the president said in a joint statement of the World Bank Ajay Banga and the Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva.

The decision came at the request of Moroccan authorities, who urged the IMF and World Bank to go ahead with the annual meeting in Marrakech, which is expected to attract up to 15,000 visitors to the popular tourist destination.

In a joint statement, it is pointed out that it is “of the utmost importance” that the IMF-World Bank annual meeting be held “without hindering the ongoing relief efforts, with respect for the memory of the victims and the Moroccan people”. “At this particularly difficult time, we believe that the annual meeting will also provide the international community with an opportunity to stand by Morocco and its people, who have once again shown resilience in the face of a tragedy,” it underlines.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva told Reuters on Friday that Morocco’s prime minister had told her that holding the annual meeting elsewhere would be “disastrous” for tourism.