Dubai: Countries should not focus on the recent market slump but on the imperative of change going forward and the need to “fix the roof”, said Christine Lagarde, managing director International Monetary Fund during the sixth World Government Summit (WGS).

Speaking during a session titled “Using the Global Recovery to Create a Fairer World”, Lagarde said it is not too late for some deep-seated reforms to be made before the next financial crisis comes around, but it’s crucial to take the right steps while the “sun is still shining.”

“I would not focus on what happened the last few days but on the imperatives of change going forward and the need to the fix the roof,” she said.

She said in the UAE, that has been anticipated in due course. “Many reforms have been conducted in the UAE, but in the region there are countries that had plenty of time to fix the roof but haven’t done it. They now say they wished they had fixed the roof then. It’s much more critical now and for some of them it’s very urgent to fix the roof,” she said.

Lagarde’s session was attended by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.