Bringing pragmatic savvy to job pitch
By Tim Colebatch, Canberra
November 2, 2005
FOR 30 years, every change of administration in Mexico was accompanied by a currency crisis. Speculators would swarm in to force a devaluation — often with good reason.
When it was Angel Gurria's turn to hand over as finance minister in 2000, he got in first. Through his contacts with international financial institutions and banks, he secured lines of credit for up to $US30 billion — then called a press conference to let the speculators know what they would be up against.
The lines of credit were never used. For the first time in a generation, Mexico changed administrations without an economic crisis, and Mr Gurria even repaid $US3 billion to the IMF.
That's the pragmatic savvy the 55-year-old hopes to bring to the OECD's ivory tower in Paris if, as expected, he is elected secretary-general this week.
One of the two frontrunners remaining after Australia's candidate Allan Fels lost out, Mr Gurria visited Canberra this week to lobby his old friend Peter Costello for Australia's vote. And he told The Age he wants to make the OECD a central player in the global economy.
"The OECD today is long on advice and ideas, but short on deeds," he said. "I am a doer.
"The OECD should become the secretariat of the globalisation process. It should help shape it, define its direction, and calculate its impact on both members and non-members. It should promote a smoother … more compassionate globalisation."
Mr Gurria's main rival for the job is Poland's outgoing Prime Minister, former economist Marek Belka. Whoever wins, the "rich man's club" of 30 nations will be headed for the first time by someone from a middle-income country.
If it is Mr Gurria, the OECD's top priority will be to establish a strong "outreach" relationship with the four big economies outside the club: the so-called BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Only Russia has applied to join the club, but Mr Gurria wants the OECD to be involved in all of them the same way as it is involved with its own members — serving as a clearing house for ideas on a wide range of issues, offering advice, and auditing progress.
"They are big, and whatever they do, they will have an impact on others", he said. "That is why working with them is important."
A career public servant, Mr Gurria ran Mexico's debt reduction negotiations, was appointed foreign minister in 1994, and three years later switched to the finance portfolio, making such a success of it that Euromoney named him its Finance Minister of the Year in 1999.
By Tim Colebatch, Canberra
November 2, 2005
FOR 30 years, every change of administration in Mexico was accompanied by a currency crisis. Speculators would swarm in to force a devaluation — often with good reason.
When it was Angel Gurria's turn to hand over as finance minister in 2000, he got in first. Through his contacts with international financial institutions and banks, he secured lines of credit for up to $US30 billion — then called a press conference to let the speculators know what they would be up against.
The lines of credit were never used. For the first time in a generation, Mexico changed administrations without an economic crisis, and Mr Gurria even repaid $US3 billion to the IMF.
That's the pragmatic savvy the 55-year-old hopes to bring to the OECD's ivory tower in Paris if, as expected, he is elected secretary-general this week.
One of the two frontrunners remaining after Australia's candidate Allan Fels lost out, Mr Gurria visited Canberra this week to lobby his old friend Peter Costello for Australia's vote. And he told The Age he wants to make the OECD a central player in the global economy.
"The OECD today is long on advice and ideas, but short on deeds," he said. "I am a doer.
"The OECD should become the secretariat of the globalisation process. It should help shape it, define its direction, and calculate its impact on both members and non-members. It should promote a smoother … more compassionate globalisation."
Mr Gurria's main rival for the job is Poland's outgoing Prime Minister, former economist Marek Belka. Whoever wins, the "rich man's club" of 30 nations will be headed for the first time by someone from a middle-income country.
If it is Mr Gurria, the OECD's top priority will be to establish a strong "outreach" relationship with the four big economies outside the club: the so-called BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Only Russia has applied to join the club, but Mr Gurria wants the OECD to be involved in all of them the same way as it is involved with its own members — serving as a clearing house for ideas on a wide range of issues, offering advice, and auditing progress.
"They are big, and whatever they do, they will have an impact on others", he said. "That is why working with them is important."
A career public servant, Mr Gurria ran Mexico's debt reduction negotiations, was appointed foreign minister in 1994, and three years later switched to the finance portfolio, making such a success of it that Euromoney named him its Finance Minister of the Year in 1999.
