Strauss-Kahn
outside IMF in Washington D.C.
September 20 when he was interviewed
by IMF Executive Board (IMF photo)
MANAGING DIRECTOR
SELECTION
Strauss-Kahn Named to Head IMF
IMF Survey online
September 28,
2007
Former
French finance minister Dominique
Strauss-Kahn was selected September 28
as the new Managing Director of the IMF.
The IMF's Executive Board said it
selected Strauss-Kahn, 58, by consensus
to succeed Rodrigo de Rato for a
five-year term beginning November 1.
The IMF Board considered two
candidates for the post after de Rato's
June 28 announcement that he intended to
leave the institution in October.
Strauss-Kahn, a French national, was
nominated by IMF Executive Director for
Germany Klaus Stein on behalf of the
European Union. Josef Tosovsky, a Czech
national and former Czech prime minister
and central bank governor, was nominated
by Executive Director for Russia Aleksei
Mozhin.
The Managing Director is the chief of
the IMF's operating staff and Chairman
of the Executive Board. He is assisted
by three Deputy Managing Directors.
In a statement following the IMF
announcement, Strauss-Kahn said he was
"determined to pursue without delay the
reforms needed for the IMF to make
financial stability serve the
international community, while fostering
growth and employment."
Transparent process
De Rato welcomed Strauss-Kahn's
selection, noting in a statement that he
had known and worked with Strauss-Kahn
for many years. "I know he possesses the
experience, vision, and dedication to
public service needed to successfully
lead the IMF at this important
juncture," de Rato said. He also
expressed appreciation to the Executive
Board for having conducted the selection
"through a transparent and competitive
process."
Biography
Strauss-Kahn has been a member of
the French National Assembly and is
Professor of Economics at the
Institut d'Etudes Politiques de
Paris. He served as Minister of the
Economy, Finance and Industry from
June 1997 to November 1999. He also
served as Minister of Industry and
International Trade from 1991-1993.
Between 1993 and 1997, Mr.
Strauss-Kahn joined the private
sector as a corporate lawyer.
Since 2000, Strauss-Kahn has
taught economics at the Institut
d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and he
has been a visiting professor at
Stanford University. He holds a PhD
in economics from the University of
Paris. He is married and has four
children.
World Bank Group President Robert B.
Zoellick congratulated Strauss-Kahn on
his appointment, saying he looked
forward to enhancing cooperation between
the IMF and World Bank. "This
partnership is crucial to ensure that
developing countries receive the best
possible support, advice, and financial
services," Zoellick said. "Our
cooperation is important to ensuring
globalization becomes more inclusive and
sustainable so more people will share in
the benefits of improved economic
growth."
Tosovsky and Strauss-Kahn were
interviewed by the IMF Board in
Washington in September. In his
September 20 statement to the Board,
Strauss-Kahn said the IMF was at a
crossroads. Its very existence as the
major institution providing financial
stability to the world might be at
stake, and rebuilding its relevance and
legitimacy would be a hard task.
Concept of security
Strauss-Kahn
told the IMF Board that financial
stability and macroeconomic stability
are closely interlinked, as they also
are a key determinant of the broad
concept of security. "All of this means
that the IMF should retain a central
role in a context that is completely
different from the one which prevailed
when it was created," he stated.
Following his July adoption as the
EU's candidate to head the IMF,
Strauss-Kahn embarked on a world tour
to, as he said in his statement to the
IMF Board, visit as many IMF members as
possible. "I tried to focus on emerging,
developing, and less developed countries
in order to collect information,
complaints, and wishes about the future
of the IMF," he told the Board.
Strauss-Kahn visited countries in
Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the
Middle East.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed
on September 6, Strauss Kahn said: "As
the candidate of reform, I would aim to
steer the IMF on a path to confront and
surmount its major challenges: adapting
the institution to a changing world
while reflecting the views and needs of
all members." He added he was confident
that, if appointed, he would "find the
necessary support to implement an
ambitious reform program to ensure the
enduring relevance of the IMF in a
rapidly changing world economy."
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