RIO DE JANEIRO - It is important to have someone from an emerging economy to head the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Wednesday.

Mantega made this comment in a meeting with Mexican Central Bank governor Agustin Carstens, who is a candidate for the IMF top job.

"In the past few years, the emerging countries have had a better performance than developed countries, with higher growth rates," said Mantega.

"Being born in Europe or in the US does not make the candidate the most qualified for the position," the minister said, referring to an unwritten IMF tradition that the top post would always be a European.

The candidates' commitment to reforming the IMF is a lot more important than their birthplaces, he said.

Carstens was the second candidate to visit Brazil for support. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde met with Mantega on Monday. She, too, said she was committed to reforms.

Mantega said Brazil has yet to decide whom it would support.