Obama`s Treasury chief remembers India days

Washington, Jan 27 (PTI) The new man to handle the
finances of the world's largest economy, Timothy Geithner, had
his elementary education in New Delhi (India) and he
remembered it while swearing in as the 75th Treasury Secretary
of the United States of America.

"My father gave me, among many wonderful things, the
important gift of showing me the world as a child. He took us
to live in Zambia and Rhodesia, then to India and Thailand,
and from those places I saw America through the eyes of
others," Geithner said at his swearing-in ceremony here.

"It was that experience -- seeing first hand the
extraordinary influence of American policy on the world --
that led me to work in (the) government," said Geithner who
has also worked in the Treasury Department about 20 years ago.

US-born Timothy, till recently President of the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, attended elementary school in the
Indian capital of New Delhi, before moving to many other Asian
cities and back to the US for his graduation and master's.

His father, Peter F Geithner is an advisor to the Asia
Center at Harvard University and a consultant to the Asia
Pacific Philanthropy Consortium, Rockefeller Foundation,
Sasakawa Peace Foundation, among others.

Besides, Geithner senior also serves on the boards of
National Committee on US-China Relations, China Center for
Economic Research (Peking University) and Center for the
Advanced Study of India (University of Pennsylvania).

He was engaged with The Ford Foundation for 28 years,
when he held various positions in Asia, including a position
based in New Delhi as Deputy Representative for India, Nepal,
and Sri Lanka.

Peter Geithner has also written a book titled "Diaspora
Philanthropy and Equitable Development in China and India",
published by Harvard University Press.

Noting that it was a "moment of maximum challenge for our
economy and our country," Geithner said that the department's
agenda, among other things would be to to launch the programs
that will bring economic recovery sooner and to "restore
confidence in America's economic leadership around the world."

The US Vice President Joe Biden, administered him oath of
office last evening in the presence of President Barack Obama.

"Tim's work and the work of the entire Treasury
Department must begin at once. We cannot lose a day, because
every day the economic picture is darkening, here and across
the globe," Obama said soon after Geithner was sworn in.

Timothy Geithner became the ninth president and CEO of
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on November 17, 2003.

In that capacity, he served as the vice chairman and a
permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee, the
group responsible for formulating the US monetary policy.

Geithner had joined the Department of Treasury in 1988
and worked in three administrations for five Secretaries of
the Treasury in a variety of positions. He served as Under
Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 1999
to 2001 under Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.

He was also director of the Policy Development and Review
Department at IMF from 2001 until 2003.

Before joining the Treasury, Geithner worked for
Kissinger Associates, which is said to be one of his first
jobs and where he is said to have worked with Henry Kissinger
on research for a book. Kissinger, former US Secretary of
State, was a critic of India during the Cold War era, but
later eulogised the country as a global power.

Geithner is also said to have worked as unofficial
advisers to former Fed chiefs Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker,
his predecessor in Treasury Department, Henry Paulson and
Merrill Lynch's ex-CEO John Thain. PTI