国际英语新闻:IMF taps French Lagarde as new Managing Director

WASHINGTON, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Tuesday that it has selected French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to serve as its next Managing Director.

The Executive Board of the IMF said it has picked Lagarde to serve as IMF Managing Director and Madame Chairman of the Executive Board for a five-year term starting on July 5, 2011, according to a statement of the Washington-based IMF, which lends to financially troubled member countries.

Lagarde, who succeeds Dominique Strauss-Kahn, becomes the first woman named to the top IMF post since the institution's inception in 1944.

File photo taken on April 15, 2011 shows French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry Christine Lagarde speaking at a press briefing during the 2011 International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank spring meetings in Washington D.C., capital of the United States. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Tuesday that it has selected French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to serve as its next Managing Director

The 24-member board said Lagarde and Mexican central bank governor Agustin Carstens are both "well qualified" candidates, and it decided on Lagarde by consensus.

According to the agreed procedures, the board had agreed to meet with Carstens and Lagarde for the post. The candidates met bilaterally with Executive Directors, as well as the Executive Board last week. In these meetings, the two candidates had the opportunity to present relevant information concerning their specific candidacies, noted the statement.

"Based on the candidate profile that had been established, the Executive Board, after considering all relevant information on the candidacies, proceeded to select Lagarde by consensus. The Executive Board looks forward to Lagarde effectively leading the IMF as its next Managing Director," added the statement.

The Managing Director is the chief of the IMF's operating staff and chair of the Executive Board. The IMF chief is assisted by three Deputy Managing Directors in the operation of the Fund, which serves 187 member countries.