Press Release No. 00/21

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today agreed unanimously to select Horst Köhler as Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund. Mr. Köhler will succeed Michel Camdessus, who resigned on February 14, 2000.

Mr. Köhler, 57, a national of Germany, is currently President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a post to which he was appointed in September 1998.

Mr. Köhler was President of the German Savings Bank Association from 1993 to 1998. From 1990 to 1993, he served as Germany's Deputy Minister of Finance, being responsible for international financial and monetary relations. During this time, he led negotiations on behalf of the German government on the agreement that became the Maastricht treaty on European Economic and Monetary Union, was closely involved in the process of German unification, and held the position of Deputy Governor for Germany at the World Bank. He was personal representative ("sherpa") of the Federal Chancellor in the preparation of the Group of Seven Economic Summits in Houston (1990), London (1991), Munich (1992) and Tokyo (1993).

Mr. Köhler earned a doctorate in economics and political sciences from the University of Tübingen, where he was a scientific research assistant at the Institute for Applied Economic Research from1969 to1976. After completing his education, he held various positions in Germany's Ministries of Economics and Finance between 1976 and 1989.

He is married to Eva Köhler and has two children.

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