The International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for increased cooperation between the IMF and the International Labour Organization (ILO), saying that coordination between multilateral institutions was crucial in addressing the global economic crisis.

"The IMF was established for a range of reasons, including the promotion of growth and employment around the world," Strauss-Khan said in remarks to a high-level meeting of the ILO’s Governing Body. "Having the input of the ILO – i.e. of workers and employers – is crucial for the IMF".

Strauss-Khan also warned that "the current financial crisis must not become a wasteland of unemployment" and urged governments and international institutions to work closer together to address the immediate consequences of the economic downturn.

In his opening remarks, ILO Director General Juan Somavia described international coordination to tackle the crisis as weak, and said "the financial, trade, economic, employment and social roots of the global crisis are interlinked and so must be the policy responses".

According to Strauss-Kahn, the international economy could begin to recover as from 2010, but he stressed that it depended on certain conditions, "mainly that bold decisions are really implemented".

He said the first step out of the crisis was to boost demand, and reiterated his call for a global fiscal stimulus of 2 percent of global GDP. He also said not all countries were in a position to apply a fiscal stimulus, as some of them have no fiscal room.

He said the second step towards recovery was restoring the health of the financial sector. He said that in the 122 bank crises the IMF has seen in its lifetime, fixing the financial system was always a pre-requisite for resuming growth and creating employment.

"If we care about unemployment, we must renew the financial sector", he said.

Finally, he said special attention must be given to emerging and low-income countries that have been heavily relying on foreign capital inflows and that have significant current account deficits.