Meetings Calendar

Deputy Director, Institute for Capacity Development, IMF

Franck Bousquet is Deputy Director of the IMF’s Institute for Capacity Development, overseeing the IMF’s global partnerships. Previously, he was the deputy director coordinating the IMF’s engagement with fragile and conflict-affected states, leading the preparation of the related strategy, approved by the Executive Board in March 2022. Before joining the IMF, he was the senior director of the World Bank’s Fragility, Conflict and Violence Group. Mr. Bousquet has also several years of leadership experience in low- and middle- income countries in Africa and the Middle East, including significant work on resilience and reconstruction issues. He led an international effort providing for the first-time concessional financing to middle-income countries facing refugee crises. He previously held roles in the public and private sectors, focused on sustainable development, finance and capital markets. He holds an MBA with a specialization in finance from Columbia Business School and a graduate diploma in engineering from France.

Minister of Finance, Syria

Mohammed Yisr Barnieh is a Syrian economist and policymaker, serving as Minister of Finance in the Syrian transitional government since 29 March 2025. He previously held senior positions in international financial institutions and played a key role in shaping Syria's financial markets. Mr. Barnieh began his professional career in 1996 as a trainee at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Later that year, he joined the Arab Monetary Fund as an economist. Between 2004 and 2007, he contributed to the establishment of the Syrian Commission on Financial Markets and Securities and the Damascus Securities Exchange, underpinning the development of Syria’s financial sector by strengthening its regulatory and institutional framework. From 2009 to 2024, he held various positions within the Arab Monetary Fund, culminating in his role as the director of the Economic Policy Department. In this capacity, he oversaw economic research and advised Arab governments on financial reforms. Mr. Barnieh earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Damascus University in 1990. He then pursued graduate studies in economics at the University of Kansas, the University of Washington, and Oklahoma State University between 1990 and 1994.

Syria Mission Chief, IMF 

Ron van Rooden is an Assistant Director in the International Monetary Fund’s Middle East and Central Asia Department. He is currently mission chief for Syria. Mr. van Rooden joined the IMF in 1994. During his career at the IMF, he has gained an extensive experience in working with economies in transition and emerging economies, as well as post-conflict countries (including Jordan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Yemen, West Bank and Gaza, Pakistan, Afghanistan, among others). Prior to joining the IMF, Mr. van Rooden worked at the Dutch central bank. He is a national of the Netherlands and a graduate of Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Senior Economist, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF

Yasemin Hürcan is a Senior Economist in the Public Financial Management (PFM) Division of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, where she provides capacity development support in PFM to countries in Anglophone Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe. From 2022 to 2024, she served as the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department’s Regional PFM Advisor at the Center of Excellence (CEF) in Ljubljana, Slovenia, supporting six Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) in their PFM reforms. Prior to joining the IMF in 2012, she worked for 16 years at the Turkish Treasury in debt and cash management and fiscal analysis, contributing to Türkiye’s PFM and debt management reforms during the 2000s. She holds a Master of Public Policy in public financial management from the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and a bachelor’s degree in public finance from Ankara University.