A highly respected and pivotal figure in Europe's political arena, Mr. Pedro Solbes started his career in the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Spain in 1968. Now he is a member of the Regional Advisory Group for Europe at the International Monetary Fund. In September 1999, he became the European Commissioner of Economic and Monetary Affaires, a particularly challenging post given the imminent entry of the new Member States into the European Union. During his time in the European Commission, Solbes was in charge of overseeing the rules underpinning Europe's single currency.Recently Solbes is a member of the board at the Italian energy group Enel and is also a member of the board at Barclays bank's Spanish as well as advisor for their European business branch.