Dr Janez Potočnik (1958) graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (Ph.D. degree 1993). He started as a researcher at the Institute of Economic Research (1989) and was nominated for a Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development in 1994.

He was appointed Head of the Negotiating Team for Accession of Slovenia to the EU (1998). He was also Director of Government Office for European Affairs (2000), Minister Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister (2001) and Minister responsible for European Affairs (2002).

In 2004 he joined the European Commission, first as ‘shadow’ Commissioner for Enlargement, and then as Commissioner for Science and Research. In 2010 he became the European Commissioner for Environment. After the end of his mandate in November 2014, he was appointed as a Co-Chair of UN Environment International Resource Panel. From April 2016 he has also been a Partner of SYSTEMIQ.

Carlos Sanchez-Munoz is Assistant Director of the Statistics Department and Chief of the Balance of Payments Division. He joined the Fund in 2016 and has since been leading the work on External Sector Statistics and the ongoing update of the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual. Prior to this, he was a Deputy-Division Chief at the European Central Bank leading the collection of micro datasets on securities, derivatives, nonfinancial corporations and households. He contributed to drafting several international statistical manuals in the areas of External Sector Statistics, National Accounts and Household Income, Consumption and Wealth. His published methodological research covers areas such as balance of payments; global financial flows; financial instruments and markets and household wealth.

Giovanni Savio is the Director of the National Accounts Central Directorate of the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). Previously, he was Research Director in National Accounts at ISTAT, National Detached Expert at Eurostat, and Senior Statistician at the Economic and Social Commission of Western Asia and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations.