The Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies and International Policy Center will host Marek Belka, President of the National Bank of Poland, at the University of Michigan on October 12. Mr. Belka will give a lecture titled “European Dimension of the Global Crisis.” He was European Department director at the IMF from January 2009 until May of this year, when he was appointed as the leader of Poland’s central bank. At the IMF, Belka led efforts to combat the economic crisis in Europe, dealing directly with the collapse of the Greek system and challenges throughout the eurozone. As leader of the Polish National Bank, Belka is focused on maintaining stability of Poland’s currency, the zloty.

Marek Belka is president of the National Bank of Poland and former director of the IMF’s European Department. He was previously Under-Secretary General at the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe. Prime Minister of Poland from 2004-05, Belka was Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister in 1997 and Minister of Finance from 2001-02. He also served as an adviser to the Prime Minister of Albania from 1997-2001, and to JP Morgan for Central and Eastern Europe from 2002-03. In 2003 he was responsible for economic policy in the interim coalition administration of Iraq. He earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Lódz and has spent time at Columbia, the University of Chicago, and the London School of Economics.

PLACE: 1636 International Institute/School of Social Work, 1080 South University Ave., Ann Arbor.

SPONSORS: Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies, International Policy Center, Center for European Studies-European Union Center, Copernicus Endowment, and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

WEB LINKS: www.ii.umich.edu/wced and www.ipc.umich.edu

The Ronald and Eileen Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia (WCEE) supports faculty and student research, teaching, collaboration, and public engagement in studying the institutions, cultures, and histories of these regions. WCEE is housed in the University of Michigan International Institute with the Center for European Studies-European Union Center (CES-EUC); the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (CREES); and the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (WCED). Named in honor of Ronald and Eileen Weiser and inspired by their time in Slovakia during Ambassador Weiser’s service as U.S. ambassador from 2001-04, WCEE began operations in September 2008. For more information, visit www.ii.umich.edu/wcee.

The International Policy Center (IPC) was established at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy in the fall of 2005. IPC is devoted to interdisciplinary research and education that advances the learning of Michigan faculty and students and informs policy makers on policy issues arising from an increasingly globalized world. In particular, the goal of IPC’s work is to demonstrate how in an interdependent world well-designed policies of governments and international institutions can improve the welfare of people, especially those in developing nations. For more information, visit www.ipc.umich.edu.

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