Ed. note: the Swiss federal government’s entire public web site is down at noon Wednesday, so we are unable to provide links
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s Federal Council (cabinet) Wednesday morning approved a package of reforms for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) covering the world body’s governance and quotas. The package was approved by the IMF in December 2010 but is being implemented piecemeal as countries vote. The reforms were designed to give a stronger voice to developing economies and to redress imbalances that reflect an older world economic picture.
Switzerland’s contribution quota initially rose to 1.59 percent from 1.45 percent, but post-reform it will be CHF1.21, and Switzerland drops from the 19th largest contributor to 19th, after Korea and Australia. Its contribution from the Swiss National Bank will, however, increase significantly, from CHF3.6 billion to CHF7.3b, with the reforms doubling the ordinary contributions of countries.
The increase in contributions is the first major one since 1998, says Bern in a statement issued Wednesday, and is designed to more correctly align contributions with economies and financial flows.
Switzerland’s share of IMF votes also falls, from 1.40 percent to 1.57 in March after an initial set of reforms was implemented, and now down to 1.17. The US remains by far the largest contributor, with the largest vote, followed by Japan, Grmany, France and the UK.
Dominique Strauss Kahn will meet French accuser - Photo source IMF
PARIS, FRANCE – The Parquet, or public prosecutor in Paris, has ordered Tristane Banone, 32-year-old journalist, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn to face each other in court, after hearing each in preliminary interviews. DSK, as he is popularly known, resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund while arrested in New York on charges (later dropped) of raping a hotel maid, earlier this year.
Banone has accused him of trying to rape her in 2003, in a case that continues to grip French media, in part because of DSK’s political ambitions.
Each is accusing the other of lying and DSK is bringing charges of defamation against Banone.
The court has not set a date for the two to meet before a judge.
©2011 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The groundwork is being laid in the media by the New York Times for the sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be dropped, with the newspaper reporting 30 June that the prosecuting attorney no longer believes the victim’s story. DSK, as he is widely known in France, will appear in a New York court for a bail modification hearing today, 1 July.
“The sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn is on the verge of collapse as investigators have uncovered major holes in the credibility of the housekeeper who charged that he attacked her in his Manhattan hotel suite in May, according to two well-placed law enforcement officials”, the newspaper front-page article says. The prosecutors, it adds, “now do not believe much of what the accuser has told them about the circumstances or about herself”, although the source appears to be a law enforcement official rather than the prosecutors. The official says bluntly that the woman has lied on several occasions, in particular about her asylum application and “possible links to people involved in criminal activities, including drug dealing and money laundering”.
The article then speculates about the possible implications for Strauss-Kahn being freed and charges being dropped.
ABC News in the US says it has confirmed the information published by the New York Times.
The New York paper mentions that police found DNA evidence of sexual relations between the former IMF boss and the woman, a maid in the hotel where he was staying.
The possibility that the maid had lied has been part of media coverage since the story broke in May, with Business Insider 26 May pointing to media leaks as part of the defense and prosecution games that have been played in relation to the case.
Christine Lagarde, new IMF director/Madame chairman (photo: wikipedia)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The IMF has replaced former director Dominique Strauss-Kahn as its director with another French citizen: “The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today selected Christine Lagarde to serve as IMF Managing Director and Madame Chairman of the Executive Board for a five-year term starting on July 5, 2011.”
Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned 18 May after he was charged with raping a maid in a New York hotel.
Lagarde, age 55, was selected in a month-long process by the 24-member executive board, which represents the IMF’s 187 member countries.
Lagarde, the IMF statement notes, “has been the Minister of Finance of France since June 2007. Prior to that, she served as France’s Minister for Foreign Trade for two years. Ms. Lagarde also has had an extensive and noteworthy career as an anti-trust and labor lawyer, serving as a partner with the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie, where the partnership elected her as chairman in October 1999. She held the top post at the firm until June 2005 when she was named to her initial ministerial post in France. Ms. Lagarde has degrees from Institute of Political Studies (IEP) and from the Law School of Paris X University, where she also lectured prior to joining Baker & McKenzie in 1981.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, the head of Afghanistan’s central bank, has fled to the US, where he has a residence, saying that his investigations into corruption have put his life in danger. The BBC reports a government spokesman in Afghanistan as saying that the resignation amounted to treason, noting that “Waheed Omar, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman, also added that Mr Fitrat was himself under investigation.”
He was named governor of the central bank in 2007.
The Wall Street Journal reports that he launched an investigation into Kabul Bank in 2010, “which brought the nation’s financial industry to its knees last fall. The lender’s politically connected insiders, including shareholders, are suspected of borrowing some $850 million from the bank, or about 94% of its total loans.”
His resignation, according to the New York-based paper, puts in jeopardy IMF (International Monetary Fund) reforms in Afghanistan which could leave millions in donor money in limbo.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s not guilty plea in a New York court Monday 6 June has opened the door to a long court case in the US, with a possible 25 years in prison as the outcome, according to US legal experts cited by several American media. DSK, as the former head of the IMF is popularly called in his home country of France, has pleaded not guilty to seven charges filed against him 15 May, including rape.
Several hotel employees shouted “shame on you” outside, to show their solidarity with the maid at the Hotel Sofitel whom he is accused of having sexually attacked 14 May. The process of pleading not guilty lasted from 15:05 when he entered the court building to 15:46, when his lawyer announced as they were leaving that DSK pleads not guilty.
His next hearing is scheduled for 18 July and the trial, which promises to be lengthy given his not guilty plea, is expected to start in the autumn.
Meanwhile, his movements are limited outside the apartment where he is staying and he is paying $200,000 a month for a security team that has the right to “to use force should he attempt to flee”, reports The Guardian.
The New York Post, whose headlines about the case have pushed a number of journalists to ask if the tabloid has gone too far, surprisingly was not one of the first to report his guilty plea Monday.
Links to other sites: Guardian, Liberation, Wall St Journal
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The race is on for the top job at the International Monetary Fund, with France’s finance minister, Christine Lagarde, saying Wednesday 25 May that she wants the job. She has strong support in Europe, which traditionally provides the head of the IMF, but Tuesday a group from the IMF’s emerging economies’ board members issued a statement suggesting the time has come for the body to look elsewhere for a leader. Lagarde is quoted by French media as saying that “Being a European is not a handicap, not an advantage; being French is not a handicap, not an advantage.”
The job has been left open by the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn last week after he was charged with raping a hotel maid in New York.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – “Hopefully, open means open” and not just open for some,” says John Lipsky, acting managing director of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), of its selection process for a new director. Previous director Dominique Strauss-Kahn 19 May offered his resignation, effective immediately, to the executive board of the IMF. DSK, as he is known to media in France, his home country, was released on bail Thursday after being indicted in New York on sexual assault charges.
The fight among nations over who will lead the IMF promises to be tense, with newly developed countries taking the lead in saying that the tradition of hiring a European for the IMF and a US citizen to head the World Bank no longer makes sense.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be freed on $1 million bail Friday 20 May, but assigned with a permanent guard to his home after being formally indicted on sexual aggression charges by a Grand Jury in New York, in the US. Fox News points out that he will also have to take out a $5 million insurance bond, noting that “it’s not believed the wealthy banker will have any problem meeting the financial conditions of his release.”
An arraignment hearing has been set for 6 June, where the former IMF boss will formally answer charges.
Links to other sites: Figaro, Fox News, Le Monde, NY Times, NY Post
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Dominique Strauss-Kahn has handed his resignation as director, effective immediately, to the executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which he has headed since 2007 (IMF announcement with the letter, published by Reuters). His post will be handled by his deputy, John Lipsky, while the board begins its search for a new director.
Strauss-Kahn was named to the post for five years, and he was widely expected before this week to be the Socialist candidate for president in 2012, running against President Nicolas Sarkozy.
He was in Zurich 10 May for IMF meetings hosted by the Swiss National Bank.
The resignation, and Strauss-Kahn’s words in his letter to the IMF, that he will “deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me”, comes a day after results of a French poll were published, showing that a majority (57 percent) of the 1,000 questioned believed Monday that he is the victim of a plot. The poll was run before a judge in New York refused to release him on bail.
The New York Times uses the resignation to point to the long-standing French tradition of tolerance for politicians’ sexual foibles, but the charges against him are of a different order from extra-marital affairs, it notes.
Le Monde published a stark announcement about the resignation shortly before 07:00 Swiss time. It also carries an article saying that the affair will not hurt Socialists in the presidential elections, with primaries scheduled for September 2011. It also carries an audio file with brief interviews with French celebrities and politicians commenting briefly on “DSK pilloried by the media”.
©2011 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
IMF head to appear before judge Sunday to hear sexual assault charges
Update 2, 11:00 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), has been formally charged in New York Sunday with sexual assault, sequestering a person and attempted rape, charges filed after a maid in his New York City hotel room Saturday 14 May was taken to hospital with minor injuries, according to French newspaper Liberation.
New York police pulled him off afternoon Air France flight 23 for Paris just as the doors of the plane were closing. Paul Browne, New York Police Department spokesperson, Saturday evening told several journalists in the US that police expected to press charges soon that were “anticipated to include criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment”. The charges were reportedly filed early Sunday.
Undeclared but presumed candidate for French Socialists
Strauss-Kahn, 62, is widely expected to be the 2012 French presidential candidate for the Socialist party against President Nicolas Sarkozy after preliminaries next September. His arrest comes on the heels of attacks by French media over his high-flying lifestyle and his wife’s wealth: Anne Sinclair is a television news celebrity in France and grand-daughter of one of the 20th century’s wealthiest art merchants, Paul Rosenberg. She was born in New York but completed her studies in Paris. The couple, married in 1991, have been living in Washington, DC since 2007. They reportedly have several homes around the world.
Not the first peccadillo
The Tribune de Geneve 13 May carried a long article detailing the couple’s wealth, based on several French media reports. Anne Sinclair’s blog Sunday makes no mention of her husband’s arrest. She publicly forgave him in 2008 after he admitted to having an affair with an economist, Piroska Nagy, who worked at the IMF and was the wife of noted Argentinian economist Mario Blejer. The scandal created a furor at the IMF.
He is being held in Harlem, at a special victims unit of the NY Police Department.
His job makes him a United Nations technical expert, a position that does not give him diplomatic immunity, according to ABC News in the US. Browne told reporters that he had not said a word to police, hours after being taken into custody.
Police call maid’s report “credible”
The 32-year-old maid, whose report is called “credible” by police, told them “that she entered Strauss-Kahn’s room at the Sofitel near Manhattan’s Times Square at about 1 p.m. [13:00] Saturday and he emerged from the bedroom naked, threw her down and tried to sexually assault her, Browne said. She escaped and told hotel staff what had happened, authorities said. They called police,” reports NPR.
Le Monde in France is following the story closely, with an online front page blog on the breaking news. The French newspaper notes that “DSK” is scheduled to meet this coming week with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, followed by a European Commission event in Brussels, an economic forum.
The New York Times, which broke the story, immediately put Strauss-Kahn’s presidential chances in the past tense, saying that he “was widely expected to become the Socialist candidate for the French presidency”. The newspaper reported Saturday that he would be represented by his lawyer William Taylor, but first AFP and then later Libération said Taylor was unable to reach his client Saturday. The Village Voice interprets Le Figaro’s take on where all this will lead, in a Paris to New York assessment of the incident that gives more graphic, if unconfirmed, detail than most stories.
Strauss-Kahn, whom New York police describe as apparently in a hurry to leave the Sofitel, left his cell phone behind in his hotel room.
Though “Sub-Saharan Africa’s recovery from the crisis-induced slowdown is well underway, with growth in most countries now back fairly close to the high levels of the mid 2000s”, siginificant infrastructural limitations as well as rising food and fuel prices threaten smooth economic recovery and growth in the region.
Links to other sites: allAfrica, The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Switzerland: IMF checks economic winds in 2011
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The IMF (International Monetary Fund) in its annual country report on Switzerland says the economy is broad-based in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. It is forecasting 2.1 percent growth for 2011 and 1.8 percent in 2012, when it expects exports to fall.
“Domestic demand is benefiting from low interest rates, increased employment and continuing immigration. In spite of the strength of the Swiss franc, exports have grown due to increased global demand.” Geopolitical tensions could have a negative impact and are the biggest risk factor, agreed the IMF team, who visited Switzerland from 18 to 28 March. Tensions in the euro zone could also spark difficulties.
The SNB (Swiss National Bank) could consider tightening monetary policy, the IMF group says, with rebuilding its capital a priority. The central bank’s capital was drained during the crisis, as were those of many governments. Future dividends to the cantons and the Confederation should be made subject to the ability of the SNB to replenish its capital.
The heaviest criticism was reserved for the banking regulatory system, which needs further work, according to the IMF. The Federal Department of Finance will create a working group to follow up one issue: the mandates of the SNB and Finma, the financial supervisory body, should be clarified, according to the IMF.
Additional capital requirements provided for in the Federal Council’s “too big to fail” consultation draft will be instrumental in limiting the risks posed by systemically important banks. Consequently, the IMF experts warn against allowing overly generous “rebate” possibilities. Switzerland’s new capital requirements are among the most stringent in the world, going well beyond bank capital requirements that are part of the new, global BIS (Bank for International Settlements) Basel agreement.
In the mortgage market, the IMF sees a certain degree of easing in financial institutions’ lending standards, says Bern. “The interest-rate sensitivity of banks’ balance sheets has increased due to the tendency towards fixed-rate mortgages with long maturities” and the IMF is in favour of “implementing more conservative affordability standards”, which could be bad news for new home owner wannabes.
The IMF has given its support to several ongoing improvements:
- “The neutral fiscal position to be expected over the next few years is considered appropriate” says Bern’s statement on the IMF visit
- the measures to restructure disability insurance must continue
- the IMF welcomes the ongoing efforts to strengthen financial planning and statistics.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Philippe Hildebrand, president of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), was handed a subpoena as he stepped off a flight in Washington DC, USA on his way to an International Monetary Fund meeting 6 October, Geneva newspaper Le Temps reveals 1 December. The subpoena was served by two fund managers, Kenneth Dart and Paul Singer, whose funds specialize in buying distressed debt, securities that are worth much less than their face value, in the hope that the securities will appreciate.
The funds had won injunctions in US courts against Argentina, almost $1 billion of whose debt the fund managers own. Argentina is alleged to be parking funds in the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements, of which Hildebrand is a director, to avoid the funds being impounded by the courts. Argentina has outstanding obligations on its debt dating from its default and devaluation in 2001.
Hildebrand invoked his diplomatic immunity and went to the IMF meeting. US authorities dropped the charges against Hildebrand in an agreement with the SNB 9 November, details of which have not been revealed.
The Irish government is accepting a massive EU (European Union) and IMF (International Monetary Fund) bailout, it announced late 21 November. The rescue package, in the form of multi-year loans, may amount to over €90 billion. Details of the aid will be worked out over the coming weeks, Prime Minister Brian Cowne says. The loans come with a pledge by the government to allow outside supervision of government economic policies. The aid will go in part towards restructuring Ireland’s big banks.
Ireland’s 12.5 percent corporate tax was not part of the bargain, Cowen said. The United Kingdom may provide Ireland with additional loans.
Links to other sites: BBC, Guardian, Irish Times
World leaders have sanctioned the reforms to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which will give emerging economies like Brazil, China and India greater clout, and hailed the Basel III accord that toughens rules on banks’ capital requirements. The G-20 countries, the world’s leading economies, have been meeting in Seoul, South Korea 11 and 12 November.
US concerns to limit trade surpluses to four percent of a country’s GDP were given short thrift in the face of stiff opposition from the world’s two major exporters, China and Germany. Instead, countries committed themselves to a study of “indicative guidelines” concerning trade imbalances. China has come under pressure from industrialized countries who say its currency is under-valued and favours its massive export sector.
The talks were overshadowed by the US Federal Reserve’s announcement a week ago that it would issue $600bn in currency in order to buy US Treasuries, a move widely seen as designed to weaken the US currency, which would cause an influx of speculative capital into emerging countries. The summit’s final declaration says that leaders would heed “market-based exchange rates” and resist the temptations of “competitive devaluation”. It also gives the nod to countries to put in place capital controls to counter capital inflows.
The International Monetary Fund gives the UK generally high marks in its appraisal of the government’s economic and fiscal recovery package, but warns that Britain’s banks are dangerously exposed to sovereign risks in Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece. Saying that “economic revovery is underway in the UK”, the IMF also recognizes that UK’s banks performed relatively well in the European Central Bank’s stress tests this summer.
UK banks’ exposure to the more indebted and fragile European economies is similar to that of German or French banks in absolute terms, the IMF says in its report (p.78/79), but is much higher as a percentage of GDP, because the UK banking sector contributes much more to GDP than banks in either Germany or France. It notes that the four main British banks have sovereign exposure of £7.8 billion.
Links to other sites: Daily Telegraph, The Independent
Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh, has purchased 10 tons of gold worth $403 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The sale 9 September is part of the IMF’s plan to sell 403.3 metric tons of gold, approved of by the Fund’s board late 2009. The Fund has sold 212tn to the Reserve Bank of India, the Bank of Mauritius and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka so far this year.
The IMF held 3005tn of the yellow metal in January 2010, worth $105bn at today’s prices. The IMF’s balance sheet has exploded since the onset of the global financial crisis, from $2bn in 2007 to more than $195bn today.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, IMF, New York Times
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Federal Council Wednesday 8 September approved an additional CHF850 million in loans for developing countries, to be administered by the IMF trust fund for developing countries (International Monetary Fund). Switzerland’s share of the trust fund is 5 percent. The loan will be made through the Swiss National Bank. A federal guarantee to require reimbrusement on schedule and interest payment must be approved by parliament. The IMF pays market rate interest.
Switzerland previously agreed to contributions in 1995 and 2001.
The trust fund is increasing its loan resources by $13.5 billion to help developing countries weather the impact of the global economic crisis.
The IMF (International Monetary Fund), in a regularly scheduled report on the state of the global economy, warned Thursday 8 July that there is a growing risk of the global recovery slowing down due to turmoil in financial markets. The warning came as the IMF nevertheless raised its forecast for growth in 2010 from 4.2 to 4.26 percent.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, Financial Times, IMF World Economic Outlook reports
The European Union’s finance ministers have agreed to a generous package of €500 billion in aid for Greece and the eurozone, the bulk of it in the form of loan guarantees. The European Commission will provide f €60b in emergency funding for members having “difficulties caused by exceptional circumstances beyond their control”, said Elena Salgado, Spain’s finance minister, who announced the deal. The IMF has agreed to provide an additional €250b package.
Stock markets rose on the news, with analysts saying it will stabilize the euro.
Links to other sites: BBC, Financial Times, Reuters, Wall Street Journal
Meeting at Swiss central bank 11 May will bring together bank governors, policy-makers
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss National Bank and the International Monetary Fund will co-host a meeting 11 May in Zurich that will bring together top-level participants in the international monetary system to review its weaknesses and identify areas that need reform.
The conference will “provide an opportunity to exchange ideas on a number of related topics, including sources of instability in the international monetary system, improving the supply of reserve assets, dealing with volatile capital flows, and possible alternatives to countries’ accumulation of reserves as self-insurance against future crises,” the two announced Tuesday 27 April.
Country should be able to avoid becoming first euro zone default
Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said after weekend talks with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and other European countries, which he described as having gone well, that Greece should receive funds in May, in time to avoid defaulting on its loans. The country faces a 19 May deadline for payments. The amount of the full bailout package is not yet known but it appears likely that it will be larger than the figure of 45 billion mentioned before Greece formally applied for aid Friday 23 April.
Asian stocks rose strongly on the news, as worries diminished over the impact of Greece’s situation on global economic growth.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, Financial Times, Reuters, UK
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) said Friday 26 March that it is watching developments in Greece closely, after the euro zone countries agreed to provide Greece with loans, with help from the IMF. But IMF and European Union (EU) rules covering loans are not aligned and the situation may force the IMF to reconsider its position. The euro zone decision does not provide immediate relief to Greece, but can be activated “only once Greece is shut out of debt markets and not until eurozone stability is threatened,” the Telegraph reports, and few of the players seem happy with the EU decision, which creates uncertainty even while it appears on the surface to aid Greece.
© 2010 APP
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Set up to monitor states’ pledges to help Africa, the Africa Progress Panel’s future is “under review”, according to a spokesperson quoted in the UK’s Telegraph. The Panel was called into existence in 2007 by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, “as a vehicle to maintain a focus on the commitments to Africa made by the international community in the wake of the Gleneagles G8 Summit and of the Commission for Africa Report in 2007.”
Despite very high-profile members including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former IMF Director General Michel Camdessus, rocker Bob Geldoff and former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, critics claim that the panel has punched below its weight, and Blair has not even bothered to attend its last four meetings.
Members will hold a meeting 3 February to decide its future role. Its mandate expires in 2010.
Links to other sites: Africa Progress Panel, Daily Telegraph
Francis Blanchard, former ILO director-general
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Francis Blanchard, a French citizen who was director-general of the ILO (International Labour Office) from 1974 to 1989, died Wednesday 9 December 2009, at the age of 93.
He joined the ILO in 1951, where his first assignment was as deputy chief of the manpower division. He was appointed deputy director-general in 1968 with responsibility for technical cooperation and regional activities.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Council, concerned about changes to the G20 group of the world’s largest economies and calls for changes to other international financial bodies, has told the country’s finance ministry to take steps to strengthen Switzerland’s role in the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the World Bank. Developing countries and emerging markets have been calling for reform of these two bodies, the two Bretton Woods international financial institutions, in recent months, suggesting that voting weights need to be reconsidered. Switzerland is keen to ensure that its seats on the Executive Councils of each group become permanent.
The cabinet (Federal Council) has also instructed the finance ministry to work closely with the Swiss National Bank and the Swiss financial market supervisory authority Finma to strengthen its role in the Financial Stability Board (FSB).
Da Silva, Sarkozy address jobs crisis summit in Geneva
Nicolas Sarkozy (©2009 ILO)
Lula da Silva (©2009 ILO)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Brazil’s President Lula da Silva Monday spoke out against international tax shelters and the deficiencies of a capitalist system that provoked the world economic crisis. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France called for an increased role for the ILO at the international level, on a par with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Bank.
The two are among the heads of state participating in a three-day jobs crisis summit in Geneva that opened Monday 15 June.
The summit is part of the International Labour Organization‘s (ILO) annual labour conference, from 3-19 June, and looks to examine ways in which government policies address the labour situation in the economic downturn.
