PARIS- The United States "unofficially" welcomes highly qualified women candidates to lead international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday when asked about the candidacy of French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde.
Clinton told a news conference that Washington had not taken any official position on the contenders to succeed Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing-director of the global lender and would not do so for some weeks.
Lagarde, 55, announced her candidacy on Wednesday. The only other declared candidate is Mexican central bank chief Agustin Carstens. Major emerging nations are demanding that the job should no longer automatically go to a European.
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