News makers:

The board of directors of the multilateral finance agency, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), today unanimously selected German banker, Mr. Horst Koehler, as the new chief executive of the agency. Mr. Koehler replaces Mr. Michael Camdessus, who resigned on February 14, after a long stint with the agency.

Mr. Koehler, who is currently the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, has held several senior finance positions in the global finance world. He also served as Germany's deputy minister of finance between 1990 and 1993, when he was responsible for international finance and monetary relations. He has also led negotiations on behalf of Germany on the agreement that came to be known as the Maastricht Treaty on European Economic and Monetary Union.

The exact date when Mr. Koehler will take up his new responsibilities is not yet known. He will take over as head of the IMF at a time when there is a growing call in the US, the major donor to the IMF, for implementing far reaching reforms within the IMF and making the development bank more attuned to the needs of the new growing economies.

Dhirubhai Ambani declared entrepreneur of the century
Mumbai: On the occasion of the historic visit to India by the American President, Mr. Bill Clinton, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) bestowed the 'Indian entrepreneur of the century' on the Reliance group patriarch, Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani.

Mr. Ambani's rise in the Indian business firmament has been one of vision, grit and determination. At a time when most businessmen thought small and were cowed down by the licence-raj, Mr. Ambani dared to dream big and, as a result, put of world class plants in the petrochemicals arena in this country.

Mr. Ambani and his two sons, Mukesh and Anil, also had the rare honour of being given a private meeting with the American President, Bill Clinton. The meeting, which lasted for thirty minutes at the suite in which the American president was staying, saw the Ambani family make a presentation to Mr. Clinton on the value systems of the Reliance group.

22 March 2000

Swaminathan honoured by Roosevelt award
New Delhi: Noted Indian agricultural scientist, M. S. Swaminathan, who can justifiably be called the father of the Indian green revolution, has been selected for the prestigious Franklin Roosevelt Four Freedoms medal, instituted by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. The award, in recognition of Mr. Swaminathan's pioneering leadership in the field of agriculture in the country, will be presented to him at Netherlands on May 27.