Strauss-Kahn: Russia’s G20 presidency can be called successful

Russia’s presidency in G20 this year can be called successful, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director and French economist Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in an interview with ITAR-TASS news agency and Rossiya-24 TV channel. Meanwhile, he noted that his final assessment will depend from how a final G20 summit in St. Petersburg will be held. “I believe that all G20 states agreed that Russia’s presidency was successful. Let’s wait and see how the final meeting will be held, but still everything is going all right,” Strauss-Kahn said. The French expert recalled that “the organization played a significant role during the crisis,” but now it is working not as expected, he noted. “I believe that we’ll have to revise the global processes management system. The Group of Twenty failed to become a real instrument of decision-making, because it became elephantine. There is too much bureaucracy in it,” he pointed out. In reply to question about possible ways to modernize the global financial architecture, Dominique Strauss-Kahn noted that the International Monetary Fund should play a decisive role in this process. “I believe that IMF should be in focus of the global financial management reform. For this purpose it is needs to change the IMF Charter that is very difficult to do, because over 280 countries are IMF states,” the ex-IMF managing director explained. “Otherwise a more pragmatic approach is needed: not to change the IMF Charter, but change the methods of work. They should be changed in any way so that IMF will begin playing a more important role than before,” Strauss-Kahn indicated. The global financial management system requires multifaceted approach, Strauss-Kahn believes. “Major meetings, for instance, at the G20 level will not be enough, because I believe that IMF will be able to play a truly important role in this issue,” he said. “The organization has all needed advantages and powers. It has a working network, which has been created for the last few years in Asia, Africa and Latin America. IMF succeeded to restore its prestige which was lost for the last few years. Therefore, I believe that IMF should become a priceless instrument for all major players of the global community, including Russia,” he underlined. Strauss-Kahn finds “political choice” as the main condition to settle main economic problems in the world. “We should decide whether we want or don’t want to act through cooperation in big blocs,” he said in conclusion. “My response is yes, we need cooperation between the American bloc, European bloc, South American, Chinese and Russian blocs. If we really want it, the ways to attain this cooperation will always be found,” Dominique Strauss-Kahn noted.