HONO KONG, July 6 The International Monetary Found (IMF) has confirmed it will hold its 1997 annual meeting in Hong Kong despite the imprisonment of an IMF staffer in China, the Hong Kong Mone tary Authority said Saturday, reports AP.

The idea of changing the venue came not from the IMF management but from certain IMF staff tn protest at the imprisonment " it said in a statement

The IMF learned last week that a Chinese employee, Hong Yang, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges of taking a dlrs 12.000 bride when he- worked for the Chinese state bank in 1993. That was before he took a one-year contract to work for the IMF

IMF officials have accused China of luring him back to China from the agency’s Washington headquarters by insisting that he join a mission to consult on the country’s economy

The IMF Staff Association, representing agency employees. says the action violated the standards of the 180-coun-try international lending agency, of which China is a member and major borrower.

The Hong Kong authority said it is "confident that the 1997 meetings will go ahead in Hong Kong as planned." The conference is to take place in September 1997, less than three months after China takes over the British colony. The timing and choice of venue is seen in Hong Kong as an important show of confidence in its ability to manage the change of sovereignty smoothly