International Financial Institutions

In addition to accepting a much more diluted influence among the G-20, Japan needs to adjust to the reality of no longer being the single most important power in Asia.

The [International Monetary Fund's] executive board is really the policy-making body of the institution. If you have a stronger voice in the executive board, you end up affecting the policies and the program of the institution.

We are very close to a full blown systemic crisis of the euro area and it is the IMF's duty to make sure the situation is stabilized. The conditions in which the IMF involvement will take place are extremely challenging and unprecedented. It puts the IMF at the heart of the euro area policymaking machinery.

The question is: do these BRICs countries have enough in common to make [a BRICs development] bank instrumental to their objectives? They all have a huge need for infrastructure [investment] and share a dissatisfaction with the lending policies of the World Bank, so there’s a base on which they could build.