Reply #109: Canada, Australia Back Carstens for IMF

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-24/carstens-wins-canada-australia-s-backing-for-imf-leadership-over-lagarde.html

Australia and Canada said they support Mexican central bank Governor Agustin Carstens for the top job at the International Monetary Fund over his rival Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister.

“It is important that the new IMF managing director be selected in an open and transparent process with the candidate chosen on the basis of merit and not nationality,” Australia and Canada said in joint statement e-mailed today by Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan’s spokesman, Fergus Maguire. A European has held the top IMF job since it was created at the end of World War II, while an American has always headed the World Bank.

The statement said Carstens’ experience as a deputy managing director of the IMF, along with his background as finance minister of Mexico and his current position, “equip him very well to understand and address, on a collaborative and inclusive basis with IMF member countries, the challenges faced by the global economy.”