Read this article in:
6 December, 2001
One more IMF Congress is over and new challenges are waiting.
No Congress is ever the same. Maybe I'm repeating myself, but this last Congress, in Sydney, was the best that the IMF has ever organised.
The organisation was perfect, thanks to the professional skill of the staff of the Convention Centre in Sydney, as well as to the way the IMF staff worked and cooperated.
Let's not forget the commitment of the three IMF affiliates in Australia which assisted the IMF with the preparation and also contributed financially.
I believe this made the difference.
We now have a new set of rules with an enlarged Executive Committee and a Central Committee which is going to meet less frequently than before but which, I am sure, will have better discussions and outcomes.
We also have a new Action Programme that prompted lively discussion at the Congress. Many speakers contributed with proposals and ideas. Especially interesting was that several young women took the floor and asked for more resources and better opportunities for women to be involved in international work.
This can only be good for the IMF.
They were constructive and positive in their approach, and we will have to implement their proposals in the best possible way.
The Action Programme is not a shopping list that includes everything we want to do. It represents a series of realistic goals that we believe should be the priority of our work in the next four years.
At the moment that the Congress adopted the Action Programme, every IMF affiliate committed itself to this.
However, the Action Programme can only become a reality if the whole organisation, including all its affiliates, work together to achieve our stated goals.
This is the greatest challenge we face.
No Congress is ever the same. Maybe I'm repeating myself, but this last Congress, in Sydney, was the best that the IMF has ever organised.
The organisation was perfect, thanks to the professional skill of the staff of the Convention Centre in Sydney, as well as to the way the IMF staff worked and cooperated.
Let's not forget the commitment of the three IMF affiliates in Australia which assisted the IMF with the preparation and also contributed financially.
I believe this made the difference.
We now have a new set of rules with an enlarged Executive Committee and a Central Committee which is going to meet less frequently than before but which, I am sure, will have better discussions and outcomes.
We also have a new Action Programme that prompted lively discussion at the Congress. Many speakers contributed with proposals and ideas. Especially interesting was that several young women took the floor and asked for more resources and better opportunities for women to be involved in international work.
This can only be good for the IMF.
They were constructive and positive in their approach, and we will have to implement their proposals in the best possible way.
The Action Programme is not a shopping list that includes everything we want to do. It represents a series of realistic goals that we believe should be the priority of our work in the next four years.
At the moment that the Congress adopted the Action Programme, every IMF affiliate committed itself to this.
However, the Action Programme can only become a reality if the whole organisation, including all its affiliates, work together to achieve our stated goals.
This is the greatest challenge we face.