 The present participants include the heads of GDN's regional network partners and representatives of various bilateral and multilateral organizations and academic associations including United Nations Development Programme, the International Economics Association and The World Bank.It was not until December 1999, that GDN was launched as a response to the perceived paucity of support for research emanating from the developing and transitional world.GDN moved out of the World Bank offices in Washington DC and started operating as an independent network of research and policy institutes with the goal of generating and sharing knowledge, building research capacity and bridging the gap between ideas and policies for development.