Let me welcome all of you. I have the honor and the pleasure to do the introductions for today's event.

Before I begin, and for those staff and others who have not yet had the opportunity to meet her, I would like to introduce the new First Deputy Managing Director, Anne Krueger.

Anne has not had what one would describe as a leisurely transition into the Fund—arriving in the midst of negotiations on the Argentina program and now the activity following the events of September 11. But Anne, we wish you every success!

This remains a difficult time for celebration. But there is a need for everyone to try to inch back to a more normal life in the wake of the tragedies of 20 days ago. Mayor Rudi Guiliani told us on Saturday Night Live this weekend that it was ok to laugh again! And we have good reason to celebrate today—not that we welcome a Fund without Stan Fischer—but that we reflect with joy and appreciation for the time he spent with us, and for the friendship that was made by so many of us with Stan and Rhoda. I know those friendships will survive Stan's departure from the Fund. So Stan and Rhoda, this afternoon is for you.

Stan, you had your dinner with friends and dignitaries; you had your farewell with the Board. But we saved the best for last today!

I'm going to paraphrase Winston Churchill's famous line: "Never have so few . . . ." I think that sentiment is an apt reference to Stan. Seldom has one person in an institution like the Fund done so much to better the institution and even the world, and affected the lives and the work of so many the way that Stan has.

At Stan's farewell dinner in this room, several people spoke eloquently of the way in which Stan's work has touched the lives of literally millions around the world. People who know nothing of Stan Fischer are in some way a little better off as a result of the advice he has given and the work he has done in so many countries.

But closer to home, all of us in the Fund—management, members of the Executive Board and, most importantly, the staff, have been deeply affected and influenced by Stan.

• No staff member took pen to paper without knowing that Stan was likely to be at the other end; just knowing that, affected the rigor and thought that went into those papers—sometimes, indeed, through several iterations!

• No staff sat at the Board who were not affected by the fact that when Directors finished speaking Stan was going to remind them of every question that was asked and every challenge raised. The fact that Stan would likely have been working on something else at the same time, or taking one of his famous three-second cat naps ever seemed to lessen his attention to detail.

• No staff could see Stan at work—in meetings, in one-on-one conversation, or in other settings—and not be affected by his equanimity, his steady, even hand, and his unfailingly gracious demeanor.

• No staff has travelled with Stan without being enormously impressed with his mastery of each country's situation, his energy, and his schedule. Rhoda, I saw in the interview you gave to the Chronicles, the IMF spouse organization's newsletter, that one of your regrets was that you did not get to accompany Stan more frequently in his travels. All I can say is, be careful of what you wish for!

Stan lifted the dedication—and the output—of staff throughout the Fund by the simple device of being himself and being the hardest worker and the most pleasant of colleagues!

But Stan was also extraordinarily effective in driving and directing the institution—through its daily work. Here, I have to confess that he sometimes may have started driving a little too early in the morning or kept driving too far into the wee hours. You know academics sometimes have quaint ideas about how to run institutions. When Stan was an academic, he had lots of ideas for the Fund. I'll mention just two—transparency—when he had the crazy notion that the work of the staff on countries should be published—and inflation targeting. Seven years later, the Fund is transparent beyond anyone's imagination and inflation targeting is used increasingly by countries around the world. Those are only two among his many amazing accomplishments in fundamentally altering the Fund and its advice to members.

So Stan, thanks for all of that !!

But let's begin.