| Euromoney's chairman Padraic Fallon presents Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf of Saudi Arabia with his award. |
At the IMF/World Bank meetings in Dubai last month, Padraic Fallon, chairman of Euromoney Institutional Investor, presented the finance minister of the year award to Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf of Saudi Arabia, describing him as a symbol of the new Middle East. Fallon praised the reforms of Crown Prince Abdullah, which have created a liberal foreign investment regime. The minister cautioned that the award "does not mean that we have achieved our ambitions but is a reminder of the need to work diligently to reach our potential".
Kazakhstan's Grigori Marchenko accepted the central bank governor of the year award. "It's the first such award a central bank governor from our region has won," he said. "We are now reaping the reward of a reform effort going back several years. The economy is growing very rapidly."
