Comment on "Lagarde 'exceptionally talented' for IMF: Geithner" (China Daily, June 24)

After the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board set out a procedure for selecting a new head while trying to meet the requirements for an open, transparent and merit-based selection process.

Even before the board's move, a broad swathe of civil society organizations across the world spelled out what the standards and procedures for the selection of IMF managing director should be. But the board's procedure fell short on both counts - its own agreements and civil society's standards.

This weak process was then subverted by European realpolitik, which saw the continent's governments clinging to an outdated system of global economic governance, which accords them undue privilege.

This is unfair, but there is still a chance to rescue the process and possibly the IMF's legitimacy. The IMF board needs to revamp the process and take a more professional approach that would invite candidates committed to reforming the IMF and its approach toward rich and developing countries.

Besides, the United States should declare that it no longer expects the ridiculous tradition to hold, and that the IMF first deputy managing director and the World Bank president should be chosen on merit without regard to nationality. It's time the governance of international financial institutions moved into the 21st century.

Peter Chowla, via e-mail

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