World Bank economist Sawako Takeuchi, vying with five other candidates for the leadership of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, has vowed to bring in Asian perspectives to reform the Paris-based body.
Takeuchi, formerly an adviser to the prime minister on economic strategy, told reporters recently the OECD's competitiveness as an international body has been declining while the Asia-Pacific region, involving Japan, China and the U.S., has taken center stage in business transactions since the 1990s.
"The OECD started as a body for European economic cooperation and 23 out of the 30 current members are European countries," she said, adding that geopolitically speaking, the entity is disproportionately represented.