WB vice president for infrastructure to visit Vietnam

World Bank vice president for infrastructure Makhtar Diop. Photo: Internet

While in Vietnam, Diop is expected to meet with senior leaders of the country and of various ministries and agencies, and local authorities to confirm the World Bank’s continuous support to Vietnam, seek to deepen the trusted partnership between Vietnam and the World Bank, and discuss Vietnam’s infrastructure agenda, with focuses on energy, transport, digital development, and Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

As part of the visit, Diop will also be on a field trip to Haiphong city to witness first-hand results from the World Bank-financed projects in infrastructure development, and to understand the infrastructure needs of emerging cities in Vietnam.

Diop is the World Bank’s vice president for infrastructure since July 1st, 2018. The Infrastructure Vice Presidency comprises Energy & Extractives, Transport, Digital Development, Infrastructure Finance and PPPs.

In this global role, Diop leads efforts to develop sustainable solutions and help close the infrastructure gap in developing and emerging economies.

Prior to this appointment, Diop served for six years as the World Bank’s vice president for the Africa region, where he oversaw the delivery of a record-breaking $70 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa to help tackle development challenges such as increasing access to affordable and sustainable energy; boosting women’s and youth’s economic empowerment; and promoting an enabling environment for more innovation and technology adoption.

A passionate advocate for Africa’s right to clean and affordable sources of electricity, he also called for greater investment in renewable energy and pushed for greater regional interconnectivity in the power and transport sectors.

Diop brings to the post a deep level of experience and understanding of complex infrastructure challenges. His prior experience includes serving as director for Finance, Private Sector & Infrastructure in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

From 2009 to 2012, Diop held the position of World Bank country director for Brazil where the World Bank helped finance major infrastructure work and was the bank’s country director for Kenya, Eritrea, and Somalia.

In addition to his international organization experience, Diop, an economist by training who started his career in the banking sector before joining the IMF and later the World Bank, has extensive private sector experience.

He has also held government positions, most notably the position of Minister of Economy and Finance of Senegal, where he played a key role in instituting structural reforms aimed at laying a strong foundation for Senegal’s growth in the late 1980s.

A recognized opinion leader in the economic and social development field, Diop has been named one of the 100 most influential Africans in the world. In 2015, he received the prestigious Regents’ Lectureship Award from the University of California, Berkeley.

Diop holds degrees in economics from the universities of Warwick and Nottingham in England.