Foreign and Military Affairs
Voting power shift just start of IMF reform
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-11-05 22:41
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BEIJING - The quota shift, or the voting power redistribution of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is just the start of IMF reform, a senior Chinese foreign affairs official said here Friday.
"G20 leaders have pledged that progress should be made in terms of IMF quota reform prior to the Seoul summit, and now we will honor the commitment," said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai at a news briefing on China's outlook for the G20 summit in Seoul next week.
At a G20 finance ministers' meeting held last month, participants agreed to shift six percent of the IMF quota to emerging or under-represented countries such as China, India and Brazil, from developed economies.
"This is obvious progress," Cui commented on the proposal forged at the minister-level meeting, adding that the Chinese side hoped the IMF's board would agree on the quota transfer.
"China is one of the under-represented countries and it's rational and sensible to give China more quota," said the vice foreign minister.
China would not try to maximize its own interests, but seek an all-win situation with other emerging economies and other IMF members, Cui added.
Cui said the quota shift was far from the end of the IMF reform and he looked forward to more changes to the financial institution.
"This is not the end, not even the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning," Cui said.
Many countries have said that the way to calculate the quota itself needs to be reformed, as well as the IMF governance structure.
