Lagarde, who has put herself forward as a candidate for the post, said the “country of origin should not be a criteria,” in deciding on a successor to Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Though she has strong backing in Europe, which has traditionally named the IMF chief, developing nations argue someone from another region should be given the job this time.
Her comments to the BBC came as French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet said Lagarde is to visit India as part of a tour to drum up support for her bid to become the next IMF chief.
“There is a sign of the importance of India for France: Christine Lagarde will begin her campaign for the IMF in India,” Longuet said in New Delhi.
He did not say when she would visit and the French ambassador to India, Jerome Bonnafont, later clarified that New Delhi would be among the first stops on a global tour, but would not necessarily be the start.
“The itinerary is still being worked out,” he said.
The so-called BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — issued a joint statement earlier this week expressing support for “abandoning the obsolete unwritten practice of convention that requires that the head of the IMF be necessarily from Europe.”
India, Russia, and China have yet to decide who to support for the post, while South Africa has insisted the next IMF leader should be from an emerging economy.
“I honestly think that the nationality, the origin, is something that doesn’t really matter at the end of the day.
What matters is the skills, the expertise, the experience, the willingness, the enthusiasm, the leadership, the background. All of that counts,” Lagarde told the BBC.
But Lagarde also suggested it would be an advantage for the next chief to have an understanding of Europe’s debt-wracked economies and “the political circumstances and background” of European leaders.
The IMF is closely involved in a half dozen emergency lending programs across Europe.
A senior official with US President Barack Obama’s administration said Friday at the G-8 meeting in France the issue over who will leader the IMF didn’t come up in official group sessions. However, he said Sarkozy had raised the topic with Obama during their bilateral meeting on Friday.
Obama did not offer his support for Lagarde, or any other candidate.
The official said the president had simply reiterated the US position that it wants an open selection process.
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said earlier that both Lagarde and her closest rival, Mexican central bank President Agustin Carstens were credible candidates.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also confirmed there would not be a unified G-8 position on who should get the job.
“There will be no signal by G-8 concerning Lagarde,” she said.
Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters at the summit that Britain was backing Lagarde.
“The one thing everybody says is that she is clearly a very strong candidate, that she has what it takes in terms of political leadership, experience and respect as a finance minister not just in Europe but more widely,” Cameron said.
“I would say there is very wide support for her candidature from a range of different conversations I’ve had.”