On Tuesday, the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank decided that Ardo Hansson and Andres Sutt will continue in the final round of electing Governor of Eesti Pank. The election process will continue at the meeting of 11 October.

The Supervisory Board has decided to ask Hansson and Sutt to present their written vision of the role and tasks of Eesti Pank.

Initially, a total of four candidates for the position of Governor of Eesti Pank were set up by members of the Supervisory Board: Ardo Hansson, Jürgen Ligi, Andres Sutt and Andres Tupits.

In the first election round, Hansson received 3 votes, Ligi and Sutt both 2 votes and Tupits 1 vote. Thus, Tupits dropped out of competition. In the second round, Hansson got 4 votes and Ligi and Sutt each 2 votes. As a result, Hansson remained in competition and an intermediate election between the two remaining candidates was held, with Ligi receiving 3 and Sutt 5 votes. This means that Hansson and Sutt continue running for the office of Governor of Eesti Pank.

The procedure of assigning Governor of Eesti Pank to the post is as follows:
1) The Supervisory Board decides to whom they are going to make the proposal to run for office;
2) The candidate has three months to pass security clearance performed by the Security Police;
3) The Supervisory Board familiarise themselves with the information gathered during the clearance and make a proposal to the President of the Republic to appoint the candidate as Governor of Eesti Pank. The candidate must have the votes of at least five Supervisory Board members;
4) The President of the Republic authorises Governor of Eesti Pank to office.

Ardo Hansson is Chief of the World Bank's Economics Unit in China. Employed by the World Bank since 1998, Hansson has also worked with Eastern European and Balkan countries. In 1993-1998 Hansson belonged to the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank, in 1992-1995 and in 1997 he was economic adviser to the Prime Minister and in 1991-1992, adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was also member of the Monetary Reform Committee. He has also worked with several reputed universities and published numerous articles on economic policy. Ardo Hansson has a PhD in Economics from Harvard University.

Andres Sutt has been Senior Advisor to the IMF's Director for the Nordic-Baltic Constituency since 2009. Sutt was employed by Eesti Pank from 1992 to 2009. In 2001, he became Deputy Governor in charge of financial stability. He belonged to the working group preparing for the monetary reform and to the National Changeover Committee preparing for the changeover to the euro. In 1999--2001, he was Advisor to the IMF's Director for the Nordic-Baltic Constituency. Sutt has also published articles on economic policy. He has a diploma (cum laude) in Finance and Credit from the University of Tartu.

Pursuant to the constitution, Governor of Eesti Pank is appointed to office by the President of the Republic on the proposal of the Supervisory Board of Eesti Pank. In order to make the proposal, at least five Supervisory Board members must have voted in favour of the candidate.
Prior to being appointed to office as Governor of Eesti Pank, the candidate must pass security clearance performed by the Security Police Board within three months. Persons who are already holding a valid Personnel Security Clearance classified as 'top secret' do not have to pass the security clearance.

Governor Andres Lipstok's term of office lasts until 7 June 2012. According to law, the term of office of the central bank's governor is seven years and it is not extendable.

Further information:
Viljar Rääsk
Public Relations Office
Telephone: +372 668 0745, +372 527 5055
E-mail: [email protected]