Speech

Remarks by Michel Camdessus at the Farewell Reception in his Honor

February 10, 2000

My friends, this is certainly a celebration, but it is one that is hard to celebrate. It's hard to leave the Fund. It's hard, even if we know that friendship endures, to have distance introduced and all of a sudden to discontinue this exciting work we have had in common. So don't be surprised if you will find me a little bit less fluent than usual. Anyway, I am not very fluent usually.

This has been for me an extraordinary time, and as I advanced through this 100 days of preparing for my departure, I realized that I would never have enough time to tell you all I have in my heart, particularly as those who went through the training in Sciences Politiques in Paris, know that no speech should exceed ten minutes! Of course, it is proper for me not to exceed ten minutes as you have already been standing for a long time, and if I were you, I would start to be impatient to walk around.

First, my apologies to many of you. Naively, I thought that by giving myself 100 days to prepare for leaving, I would have ample time to see personally all those with whom I had worked, spend at least a quarter of an hour with each, reminding ourselves of nice occasions, good anecdotes ... many, many things indeed. Well, no time for anything! Until lunch today we had the pressure of work on us. Whether it be from a sense of duty or the pleasure I found in working here, I was unable to stop for those other, possibly more rewarding, things.

But today I have this moment with you, and I would like each of you to take very personally, as if it had taken place privately, everything that I will say now. And please don't be offended if I was not able to say it in private.

Second, of course, thank you very, very much for this wonderful gift. You know pretty well what are our tastes, our inclinations, even if we have tried to keep very discreet about that, and, of course, you were right on target. All of these are beautiful, indeed, and, of course, I will have to think very frequently about the special meaning of the picture. Yes, you have provided me with a continuing adventure. But certainly things will occur during this journey of adventure, and perhaps I shall have some opportunity to tell you how things go during this intellectual and artistic odyssey.

I would like also to thank all of you who have spoken, and I know that you have spoken on behalf of everybody here. Patricia [Alonso-Gamo], already, the very day I announced my resignation, you sent me such a touching message, and today you have found tremendously moving words, going even beyond what you so kindly wrote to me on that day. And I must say that you have been particularly perceptive in telling me something that I might not have evaluated that way but which is extraordinarily true151;that my most difficult negotiation was in conquering the heart of somebody you know pretty well. But that victory was a good and lasting one. I cannot say the same thing for all those victories Stan [Fischer] was talking about.

Let me thank you all for these words, for the very kind attention you have paid, Margaret [Kelly], with this picture of diversity, Tom [Dawson], with cartoons from around the world. I had started my collection of cartoons, but it is certainly less comprehensive than this one.

Now let me thank you also for everything you have done during the time I was leading the Fund, going indeed, beyond all expectations. You are the Fund. The Board is the Fund. But the Board does not exist without you. You are the Fund. And any accomplishment that may now be generously attributed to me bears your names or the very specific names of many of those who are here or who were with us at the time. And, indeed, through Charles Merwin, I would like these words to be conveyed to my new brothers in the Retirees Association.

In passing, I join him in telling you that, yes, I think it's a very nice thing to be a retiree of the IMF. And when Mr. Kennedy went to see me to explain how it all works—I had never understood very well—I found that even if there are things which can be improved, the whole thing is extremely satisfactory.

When looking back—and having heard so much about accomplishments recently—I can tell you that there is one I consider as distinctly having my touch here—indeed, it is the one I most treasure—is to have succeeded from the first day in gaining your trust, the loyalty Stan [Fischer] spoke so clearly about, your friendship, and, from so many of you, your affection. But I said, "I gained." No, I didn't gain it. You gave it to me. And, indeed, this is the gift I will treasure most and I will bring with me this splendid work of art and so many other testimonies of your friendship.

One word more on your contribution. It has been truly unique. I heard my predecessor telling me that. I heard Pierre-Paul Schweitzer telling me—as I told you three months ago—"the staff of the IMF will allow you to succeed in everything you undertake. The only intractable problem you will find in Washington—the only one—is the crab grass in your garden." Today, I confirm that I sold my house with a lot of crabgrass. But you have done and you continue doing a truly admirable job, and I know the price you pay for it. I know the long working hours, I know the travels, and I know the sacrifices of all kinds.

Let me hope first that you remain proud and gratified in what you do. And, indeed, let me say in passing that I like very much the piece of paper that Margaret [Kelly] has just given me even though I could only glance at it rapidly. It's an element in our sequence of reflection on excessive stress and how to address it. I would like to pay tribute to those who have worked in the working group on stress, and, indeed, I share wholeheartedly their conclusions. And I know that my colleagues in management do so also. Indeed, we had a working lunch today, and this was one of the things we spent some minutes discussing. First, we need to have those who lead the institution, lead it better and help in clarifying its mission. I told the Executive Board that yesterday. That, of course, is part of management's responsibilities. It is also part of the Board's—and of our shareholders'—responsibility. Of course, they don't like to do that. They don't feel the need to do it because we deliver—we are the institution who promptly and efficiently delivers—and, of course there is a natural human tendency to ask more from those who deliver most. That is biblical, is it not? The more you give, the more you will be given, but also the more you will be asked to give. So we need our shareholders to be clear about our mission and to give us the necessary human and financial resources to deliver on their ambitions.

We need a clear statement of priorities for the Human Resources Department to better align its strategy to support the Fund's mission. This will imply going further in our efforts to provide diversity, training, and flexibility in working conditions. This will imply strengthening our human resources management practices. This will imply strengthening diversity, particularly at the most senior level. All of this amounts to a big agenda, indeed, but I wanted, before leaving the Fund, to endorse it with my deep conviction that it is not merely good will, good management. It is also the best way of having this institution always fit to serve the world.

I would like to return to your being gratified in your job. As a civil servant—yes, I am proud to be a civil servant, my only qualification in life for 40 years—I have always found great enjoyment and a fundamental sense of freedom in devoting my life to the service of the common good, all the more when it is the international common good, the service of the brotherhood of humanity.

This institution embodies the traditions of public service at its best. So enjoy it. Allow yourselves and your families to enjoy and value what you do. Reject what you hear about the IMF as a bloated bureaucracy. This only tells you about the intolerable lightness of those people who speak about what they just don't know, giving only an extraordinary indication of the lack of professionalism, of the...well, I will not continue on that. Because I don't want to be negative today.

And I must tell you that the Fund is the opposite of a bloated bureaucracy. It is the opposite of a bureaucracy because it is continually in motion, it is permanently self-reforming. Never will you need, contrary to the newspaper headlines, a comprehensive program of reform in the IMF. To go that way would be to ignore the inner dynamism of this institution and its capacity to adapt itself to whatever new challenge may arise and to be permanently engaged in trying to improve its operations. It is reforming itself every day.

You can always count on me every time it will be necessary to speak about the Fund. You know my metaphors about the Fund. You know that I see it as a high-performance sports car—not a big truck—but something very mobile, very flexible. Of course, you must be good at driving it, but it goes faster and more effectively than any other automobile to where it must go.

And let me tell you that in the orchestra of serving the common good, you are the first violinists playing Stradivarius. And, of course, when you have such first violins, to conduct the orchestra is a very nice job, indeed. And I enjoyed it thoroughly, believe me.

I wanted to tell you that, and to tell you that you shouldn't be concerned, not only about the far-fetched ideas about reforming the Fund. If they want to reform the Fund, speaking in New York recently, I put to the international community ten interesting points. Possibly there were a few more in my speech in Georgetown. To the Board I put 15 points. Something to keep the reformers busy for, let's say, the next 13 years.

Don't be concerned about the future of the Fund. This institution is more central than ever. Of course, there is a problem of geometry here because once you are central, you cannot be more central than central. But you see what I mean...It's a dynamic centrality...This is a new concept! Dynamic centrality...I see that you agree on being dynamically central!

The Fund has a great future. The world needs such an institution. I told the Board that the staff of this institution is an extraordinary, indispensable, unique asset of the world community. The world can count on you, and I am proud to have maintained this unique asset of the world community in good shape.

As a matter of fact, Stan [Fischer] has just reminded us that two-thirds of the present staff of the IMF have been appointed—recruited—while I was the recruiter of the Fund, according to the Articles of Agreement. And I must tell you that I am proud to have done that. I have been criticized for increasing the size of the Fund. Not enough. Stan [Fischer] was telling me yesterday, increasing it regularly, modestly, but still less than the rate of world growth. And increasing it with a group of people of exceptional talent.

No appointment has been made during all this period, and before, which was not justified by the competence, the ability to serve the Fund, of the person we were recruiting. Not one. And, indeed, this is what makes this institution strong. This contributes so much to its esprit de corps. I know that you will have now the opportunity to welcome in the Fund a new group of more than 100 people this year. We need them and we will need more in the future. You will have to help them to...well, to become what you are. And I'm sure you will do it.

But, more importantly, something which must be noted here is the fact—one that I like very much to reflect upon—that you are a family of people, a family of very diverse individuals with a great diversity of origins, but as Brigitte has told me almost every day, you are also a family of families. And here I would like once again to pay tribute to all INFFO and now the spouses' organization are doing to build "this family of families" spirit in this institution.

Some have asked me to say a last word on my hidden agenda. I am suspected of having had a hidden agenda since the day I arrived here. I must tell you how, with Brigitte and with the help of a Chinese proverb, we express this hidden agenda. It's very simple. It is that it is better to wipe the tears from the face of a poor man than to get a hundred smiles from Ministers. The Chinese have that, and I think we must—all of us who are so familiar with so many Ministers in the world—have that in our minds and heart.

And now I must conclude. I am distinctly beyond the ten minutes. But I conclude with two thoughts.

First, I know that the next weeks will be a time of testing for the Fund, or at least it will be seen as such by the world. As our shareholders see this job as so great—and, of course, they are right—that they were not able so far to agree on a name to whom to give this job. Well, I would be happy if it was their great concern about the IMF as the treasurer of the international community which explains their delay. But I hope they will not be too long in deciding. They owe us that.

Second, in the meantime, I must tell you that I am totally confident that it will be business as usual with the degree of excellence in the business of the Fund to which you are accustomed with Dick Erb, with P.R. Narvekar, with Alassane Ouattara. With the team we have now, Shigemitsu Sugisaki, Eduardo Aninat, and Stan Fischer , you can be totally confident that the Fund will be led as it must be.

And then somebody will be named Managing Director. I envy him. I could start again for 13 years. But don't feel obliged to keep him or her for 13 years. You will be the judge of that.

Lastly, thank you again. May the good Lord, as we say in my country, bless all of you and your families, bless your work, give you good luck, and let's keep in touch.

Thank you.