Paul Vallely is the Operations Manager for the World Bank in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Pacific Islands. Paul is responsible for coordination of the World Bank’s program and staff across twelve countries, with more than 80 projects and operations, totaling approximately US$2 billion in support to PNG and the Pacific Islands region.

Based in the World Bank’s office in Sydney, Australia, Paul has over 30 years’ experience of working in development, mainly in the transport sector. He initially worked as a consultant for nearly 20 years on a diverse range of projects in Europe, South Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific.

Prior to working in the Pacific region, Paul was the Program Leader for Connectivity and Infrastructure for the Central Asia Region, based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Paul worked across all five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – where his interests spanned across sectors including Transport and ICT, Energy and Extractives, Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience, and Governance as well as Public Private Partnerships.

Paul’s earlier experience included many years focusing on operations in South, South East and East Asia. His responsibilities included the identification, preparation and implementation of development operations, both for investments and technical assistance, covering a wide range of infrastructure projects.