ASEAN calls on Asia to select a candidate for IMF chief

ASEAN secretary-general called on Asian countries to jointly nominate a candidate for the post of managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Thai media reported on Friday.

As the leading engine of global economic growth, Asia needs to assert itself in the way international institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF operate, Surin Pitsuwan, a Thai national secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said on Thursday.

"The time is for Asia to field a candidate and it doesn't have to be an Asian. They could be a member of a Third World country but not the European Union and they surely must not be a North American," the Bangkok Post, Thailand's English newspaper, quoted the ASEAN chief as saying.

Since 1946, a European has always held the post of IMF managing director. Australia's Treasurer Wayne Swan said the new IMF head should be chosen on merit and the convention of selecting only Europeans for the post was outdated.

Surin, speaking at the "Future of Asia" conference in Tokyo, said Asia should assert its claim to the position now or it might be too late.

He referred to the selection of a new IMF managing director to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a French citizen, who is struggling with sex scandal in the United States and recently resigned from his post.

If ASEAN does not do anything, it will be taken for a ride and next time it will be overlooked, Surin added.

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