Mumbai: Anoop Singh, a former special advisor to the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has been named director-Asia Pacific of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Aup Singh, who was advisor to Manmohan Singh when he was governor of the RBI, is currently director of the IMF`s Western Hemisphere Department. He has also served as special advisor to another RBI governor, I G Patel.

Anup Singh has also worked as senior economic advisor to the vice president, Asia region, the World Bank; and was sometime lecturer in economics at Bombay University.

He will take over as director of Asia Pacific Department as part of the 185-member lending organisation`s `refocusing effort`, managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

At the IMF,  Anup Singh has served as  director of special operations in the office of the managing director, deputy director of the Asia and Pacific Department, senior advisor of the Policy Development and Review Department, assistant director of the European Department, and as IMF resident representative in Sri Lanka.

A post-graduate from Cambridge, and the London School of Economics, Anup Singh has worked and written on surveillance, and crisis management issues, helping to shape IMF-supported programmes in emerging markets and developing countries in South and South-East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, IMF said in a release.

He has organised several conferences and seminars on political and economic issues affecting the ASEAN countries, the Andean region, Central America, Indonesia, and Argentina, IMF said.

Strauss-Kahn also announced his intention to appoint Masood Ahmed, a Pakistani national, who is currently director of the external relations department, as director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department.

Barry Potter, a British national, who is currently special representative to the UN, has been named director of the office of internal audit.

"There are a number of appointments that are in train at the Director-level as part of the Fund's ongoing refocusing effort. It is my intention to fill these senior positions as quickly as possible," Strauss-Kahn said. "Given the skills needed by the Fund and its membership, some of positions can be filled internally.

There will be a period of transition before the new directors' appointments become effective, with the exact timing to be decided at a later date, an IMF release said.