The Bank of the Lao PDR welcomed Fazurin Jamaludin, who will succeed Jochen Schmittmann as head of the International Monetary Fund’s representative office in Laos. The leadership transition was discussed during a meeting involving both the incoming and outgoing representatives. The central bank highlighted Schmittmann’s work on annual macroeconomic assessments, technical assistance and coordination between the two institutions. It expects cooperation under Jamaludin to continue across technical assistance, implementation of the monetary and financial system development plan, and banking-sector development.