SEACEN ED ATTENDS ANNUAL MEETINGS OF THE
IMF AND THE WORLD BANK GROUP
9-14 October 2012
TOKYO, JAPAN
The Executive Director of SEACEN, Mr. Hookyu Rhu, had the opportunity to strengthen collaborative ties with several of SEACEN’s strategic partners when he attended the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group in Tokyo, Japan from 9 to 14 October 2012. The Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group, held in the autumn of each year, are formal gatherings of the Boards of Governors – the highest decision-making bodies of the two organizations. This year, the Annual Meetings not only gathered ministers and key government officials, but also members of the private sector, including representatives of financial institutions, as well as the media and civil society organizations. A number of seminars and symposiums were held during the same week, providing additional opportunities for dialogue and networking.
In the course of the Meetings and concurrent seminars, Mr. Rhu met with senior officials of the Bank of Japan and the IMF. In his meeting with Mr. Atsushi Takeuchi who is Head of the Center for Monetary Cooperation in Asia (CeMCoA) of Bank of Japan, Mr. Rhu had the opportunity to discuss current and future areas of collaboration between SEACEN and Bank of Japan.
He also met with Ms. Sharmini Coorey and Mr. Dominique Desruelle, Director and Deputy Director respectively, of the Institute for Capacity Development (ICD) at the IMF, to discuss cooperation on central bank capacity building between SEACEN and the ICD, an organization which sets the IMF’s capacity building strategy to address the evolving needs of its member countries, delivers training to country officials and IMF staff, and partners with donors to boost financing available to member countries for institutional development and capacity building.
Mr. Rhu also had a meeting with Mr. Sunil Sharma, Director of the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute, to discuss on-going and future collaboration, specifically in the core central bank knowledge area of macroeconomic and monetary policy management.
Mr. Rhu also attended the Seminar on “The Role of Asia in a Changing World” which delved into challenges facing Asia in sustaining growth in the next decade and beyond as well as its new role in an ever evolving global landscape. Some of the key issues taken up at the Seminar included Asian economies’ preparedness in coping with demographic changes, the ability of Asian economies in moving up the valued-added chain while rebalancing growth toward domestic and regional demand and the role and challenges for Asia in a changing world or “global shift”. The panellists of the Seminar included thought leaders and heads of international organizations such as Barry Eichengreen, Professor, Department of Economics, University of California-Berkeley, USA; Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer, ICICI Bank, Christine Lagarde , Managing Director, International Monetary Fund; David Daokui Li , Professor of Economics, School of Economics and Management Tsinghua University, China; and Masaaki Shirakawa, Governor, Bank of Japan.
