Building resilience has never been more important and urgent, with the world now facing multiple crises, and the IMF’s longstanding and strong partnership with Japan helps build more resilient economies in the Asia-Pacific region, said visiting Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in Tokyo at an event commemorating the 25th anniversary of the IMF Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (OAP) on July 20.
Together with Japan’s Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki, Ms. Georgieva addressed the audience at the special event to discuss economic policy priorities and international economic cooperation. She emphasized that we need to build a strong foundation for sound economic policies and institutions, and that long-term resilience requires the vision to pursue bold changes, such as green and digital transformations of economies. She expressed her deep appreciation to Japan for being a great partner in supporting such resilience building through its generous contributions to the Fund’s financial resources and capacity development activities. One such initiative is the Japan-IMF Scholarship Program for Asia (JISPA), a program for young officials to pursue economic graduate degrees in Japan, which is administered by OAP and financed by Japan.
Following the remarks of Minister Suzuki and the Managing Director, four panelists, including Krishna Srinivasan, the new director of the IMF Asia and Pacific Department, reflected on lessons from the past 25 years of economic development in the region, and discussed regional economic issues, policy priorities, and the importance of international cooperation to make regional and global economies more resilient.
The visit of the Managing Director was the first since November 2019. She met with Japanese senior officials, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, to exchange views on how to confront our common challenges through strong partnership and cooperation. During her two-day visit, she also met with JISPA scholars to share adventures from her personal career and to encourage their goal of becoming future policy leaders, and she exchanged views on women’s empowerment with female leaders in business, academia and government.
Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva's tweets in Japan
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