New World Bank Country Director to meet with Finance Minister

Newly-appointed World Bank Country Directorfor the Caribbean, Françoise Clottes, will travel to Jamaica this week to meet with Finance and Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw and other government officials.

Ms. Clottes will also meet with key industry leaders, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other civil society representatives.

She will visit World Bank sponsored projects in Jamaica, including a community health clinic, sport fields in West Kingston and an early childhood education centre, where a number of students and their parents are beneficiaries of the PATH programme, which receives funding from the bank.

The Country Directorwas appointed recently by the World Bank’s Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, Pamela Cox.  As the new Country Director for the Caribbean, Ms. Clottes will continue to work closely with partner countries to develop innovative solutions to development issues, said Miss Cox. 

Ms. Clottes, a French national, joined the Bank in 1994 as a young professional.  Since then, she has held several positions in Europe and Central Asia.  Her most recent position was that of Country Manager for Morocco in the Middle East and North Africa Region.

She possesses a Master's degree (MA) in Public Policy from Harvard University, an MA in International Economics from the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (France) and an MA in Public Administration from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (France).

"I am honoured to be working in the Caribbean, which faces a number of challenges as a region with small states that has been severely affected by the current global economic crisis. The Bank stands committed to work with the region to find development solutions to longstanding and emerging issues,” said Ms. Clottes.

She replaces Yvonne Tsikata, who has been appointed Sector Director for the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Department in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia office.  Vice President Tsikata, a Ghanaian national, had been the World Bank’s Country Director for the Caribbean since November 2007.

CONTACT: DERRICK SCOTT

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