French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde stops over in Cairo to rekindle an old friendship between Egypt and France and to lobby support for her candidacy of the IMF's top job. Gamal Nkrumah encounters the persuasive Parisian Christine Lagarde, France's minister of the economy, finance and industry, is a formidable woman. With a penchant for satire at its most biting, Lagarde chronicles her battles with macho men with a dry sense of humour. She coyly shies away, however, from being designated a feminist. Where she really scores over other contenders for the post of International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief is in her assertive gratification of her gender. Nevertheless, Lagarde has long been sounding the alarm bells that more women should be in control of politics and business. Lagarde makes no bones about her conviction that the world will be a better place if more women are in positions of power. She marshals a weight of evidence and a depth of understanding and conviction to prove her point. Lagarde raised eyebrows when she told "This Week" anchor Christiane Amanpour that "libido" marks the difference between how women and men approach business. "I think we inject less libido, less testosterone," the French iron lady remarked stone-faced. "Less libido?" Amanpour inquired in utter incredulity. "Yes, and less testosterone into the equation," Lagarde reiterated. Her star has been rising fast in the jeopardous world of French politics. Lagarde made Forbes' list of the 100 most powerful women in the world. Her tenacity, perseverance and at times capriciousness is explained by the fact that she is born under the Cardinal Earth sign of Capricorn. With an academic background in law and politics, she was previously minister of agriculture and fishing before being promoted to minister of trade �ê" that was in the government of Dominique de Villepin. She is the first woman ever to become minister of economic affairs of a G8 economy, and may soon be the first to head the IMF, a dubious honour. Lagarde is fluent in the English language, even though on public occasions she prefers to use her native French. After all, her father Robert Lallouette was a professor of English. Nearing the end of a press conference at the Fairmont Hotel, Cairo, Lagarde brusquely cut short the tortuous question by a journalist grappling in a smattering of broken English and Arabic with a curt "Okay. C'est bon. J'ai compris." Eventually, after navigating the packed room, Lagarde confessed that she was pleased to return to Egypt, a country she says she loves. She greets everyone with great bonhomie. "I am assured of Egypt's backing for my candidacy," she flashes a smile. Contrary to contemporary media convention, Lagarde never sends questions to her audience in advance. She listens attentively but make no mistake, the press conference is conducted on her own terms. Lagarde, no angel to be sure, is currently under investigation for settling with Bernard Tapie out of court and authorising very large payments in his suit with the Crédit Lyonnais. So women, too, are not immune to corruption scandals. True to form, Lagarde orchestrates another twist in the discussion and asserts that the main issue facing the Egyptian economy at the moment is the question of restructuring the country's debts. Dominique Strauss-Kahn who resigned on 18 May as IMF chief was her compatriot, even though he was left-of-centre in French political terms, while she is right-of-centre. Strauss-Kahn left office in disgrace after a sex scandal that all but terminated his political career. Prior to his faux pas he had presidential ambitions. So what do you think as a European you could offer emerging economies and the world's poorest and least developed nations if you become head of the IMF, I ask peevishly, conscious that the issue is provoking heated debate. The United States is known to prefer an IMF head who hails from the emerging economies and many in the developing world are quite frankly sick and tired of seeing yet another Westerner head the IMF. She nods enthusiastically. Lagarde is not the only European hopeful for heading the IMF, but she is clearly the favourite. With a minimum of fuss she explains that we live in a global village. "I am European in origin, but I feel I am a global personality," Lagarde told Al-Ahram Weekly. "President Nicolas Sarkozy at the recent G8 summit in Deauville pledged to assist the economies of Egypt and other North African and Middle Eastern countries struggling to democratise and uphold human rights. This means that we must take into account the special needs of each and every country in the region. There is not one standard formula for success that applies to all the nations of the region. But we must act fast. Time is of the essence," she flashes another smooth smile. "Tunisia and Egypt were special beneficiaries �ê" but now there is the issue of execution, execution, execution," she raises her voice a pitch. My mind boggles at the thought of the guillotine: is that what she means? Quickly I comprehend, though, that she is talking about implementation, rather than execution per se. She laughs loudly and freely. However, the pressing questions of poverty alleviation, job creation and raising living standards are no laughing matter. Almost 40 million children in war zones and conflict areas do not attend school. In an emerging economy like India's, a third of the country's resources and wealth is concentrated in the hands of India's handful of billionaires. Barely three decades ago, India was a socialist country with strong state interventionist policies. Today, even though economic growth rates are phenomenal the number of impoverished people is multiplying and the privatisation of education is pushing children out of the school system and propelling them to the lowly social status of child labourers. The impetus to privatise every aspect of the Indian economy has taken its toll on the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. The question is whether any of the candidates clamouring for the top job at the IMF, including Lagarde, is actually capable of understanding and empathising with the problems of the poor. "I understand that the IMF has made serious errors in the past. Indeed, the IMF has admitted its many mistakes. We need to learn from the mistakes of the 1990s. We also need to examine more carefully the geographical composition of the IMF employees," Lagarde concurred with a questioner. However, hailing from a developing country is not in itself a guarantee that the member of the IMF staff concerned will have the interests of developing countries, the poorest and neediest, foremost in their hearts. Agustin Carstens, the underdog candidate to head the International Monetary Fund, is Mexico's central bank chief. Yet his chances of heading the IMF are infinitely better than those of maverick Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel. Fischer, an American economist, born in Zambia, who usurped Israeli citizenship, previously held the number two position at the IMF. But he has no chance in hell to hold the top job. His detractors see him as an American lackey. He graduated from the University of Chicago, a bastion of free-market neo-liberal thinking. Lagarde, no less a defender of the free market, appears to be confident that neither Carstens nor Fischer pose a real threat to her ambitions. Egypt and a host of other Arab countries support the candidacy of Lagarde. They might contemplate the candidacy of Carstens, but Fischer is out of the question. Lagarde described Minister of International Cooperation Faiza Abul-Naga as "an old friend" and stressed that both women agreed that the influence of the emerging economies at the IMF must be commensurate with their economic prowess. Most of the 187 member states of the IMF are developing countries. Capital and commodity volatility now emerged as the two of the most vexing questions now facing the IMF and the global economy. The French finance minister expressed her understanding of the fears of developing countries whose economies are based on the export of raw materials, mineral and agricultural produce. The developing countries are particularly vulnerable to fluctuation in commodity prices, but Lagarde insisted that because of France's special relationship with the developing countries and former colonies in Africa in particular, it has a special empathy with the question of commodities. "I understand that it is a pressing issue for poor nations." Lagarde, the frontrunner in the race for the coveted position of IMF chief, this week was on a whirlwind tour that took her to the ends of the earth �ê" from Brasilia to Beijing by way of New Delhi, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. She wants to woo the emerging nations, in particular Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). Israel's Fischer, who also has officially joined the race for the top IMF post, would need the IMF to waive a requirement that a managing director be under 65 when appointed. Fischer, 67, is the least popular candidate among Arab and Muslim nations. His old-fashioned style sharply contrasts with that of the French finance minister. Lagarde keeps her fans posted on Twitter. Yes, she is aware that the IMF has been subjected to cyber-hacking. However, she is far more interested in challenging the predominance of white, middle-aged men in the world of corporate finance. "We, as women, inject less libido, less testosterone," she insists. "It helps in the sense that we don't necessarily project our own egos into cutting a deal, putting our point across, convincing people, reducing them to, you know, a partner that has lost in the process." This requires considerable flexibility and the feminine touch, she says. However, Lagarde is far from dogmatic about her conviction that more women in positions of power are prerequisite for the global financial sector to run efficiently. "And, it is probably over-generalised what I am saying. And I am sure that there are women who operate exactly like men." It is a sign of times that this particular issue has risen to the fore. "But in the main, and having had nearly 30 years of professional life and getting closer to 60 than 50, I honestly believe that there is a majority of women in such positions that approach power, decision-making processes and other people in business relationships in a slightly different manner," Lagarde told Amanpour in no uncertain terms. In her quest to win support from the emerging markets, Lagarde met Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi. Indonesia, another Asian emerging economic giant, has signalled its support for Lagarde, as has, according to French government spokesman François Baroin, even China. The backing of India and China is crucial if she is to win. Lagarde's candidacy is gaining momentum every day, with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and Ireland adding to the European consensus. She modestly says she tries hard to make intricate financial questions comprehensible to the layperson. "I don't have any ulterior motives or a hidden agenda," she quips. In Cairo Lagarde held talks with Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi and Minister of Finance Samir Radwan that she described as "fruitful". She also convened a heady tete-a-tete with Governor of the Bank of Egypt Farouk Al-Okda. "I was briefed about the state of the Egyptian economy," she told reporters in Cairo.
