Press Release No. 07/218

Press Release: IMF Executive Board Adopts Resolution of Appreciation for Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato

October 30, 2007

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) adopted the following Resolution of Appreciation for Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato on October 29, 2007:

WHEREAS on October 31, 2007, Mr. Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo will relinquish the post of IMF Managing Director that he held from June 7, 2004;

WHEREAS Mr. de Rato, as Managing Director, applied—to the full benefit of the Fund—his diverse and extraordinary talents, skills, and experience;

WHEREAS Mr. de Rato, recognizing that the financial and human resources of the Fund are limited and must be used wisely, conceived a medium-term strategy that served to sharpen the focus of the Fund and to best position it to meet the challenges of the future;

WHEREAS Mr. de Rato perceived the critical need to both strengthen the Fund's understanding of financial markets and better integrate financial sector issues into macroeconomic policy work;

WHEREAS Mr. de Rato's vibrant advocacy of quota and voice reform to strengthen the ownership of emerging market and developing countries in the Fund and ensure its long-term relevance produced a historic agreement among the membership that strengthens international economic cooperation;

WHEREAS Mr. de Rato gave shape to his vision of enhanced and more effective Fund surveillance by guiding with skill and diplomacy a far-reaching Board decision that modernizes Fund bilateral surveillance and an innovative first multilateral consultation on global imbalances with systemically important countries;

WHEREAS Mr. de Rato launched a major initiative to begin building, with eminent outside support, a new income model for the Fund that both recognizes its changing role and preserves its financial and operational strength;

WHEREAS Mr. de Rato identified and sought to implement appropriate Fund support to emerging market countries vulnerable to large capital flows;

WHEREAS Mr. de Rato's firm belief in the role of the Fund in low-income member countries was critical to the Fund's participation in the multilateral debt relief initiative;

WHEREAS Mr. de Rato carried out his responsibilities with honor, dignity, dedication, and a strong sense of fairness, earning him the respect and appreciation of the Executive Directors, management colleagues, and staff;

NOW THEREFORE IT IS RESOLVED THAT: The Executive Directors of the Fund declare their most heartfelt thanks to Mr. de Rato for his service to the Fund, and express their sincerest wishes for the future success and happiness of Mr. de Rato and his family.

Adopted by the Executive Directors of the International Monetary Fund on October 29, 2007