16th Procurement, Integrity, Management and Openness (PRIMO) Forum

H.E. Mrs. Belinda Balluku as of July 2022 and Minister of Infrastructure and Energy as of January 2019. Prior to being appointed as Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, she was the General Director of ALBCONTROL, JSC, the National Air Navigation Agency of the Republic of Albania (2013-2019). Mrs. Balluku is a graduate of the Executive Program “Economic Development” from Harvard Kennedy School and holds an honorary degree from IATA (International Air Transport Association) for management of air navigation services (Air Navigation Services Management). She graduated with honors in the General Diploma of Management, in Miami, USA. She holds a law degree and in 1999 graduated from the Athens Institute of Technology, Department of Business Administration. Mrs. Balluku has a variety of other qualifications in areas of aviation security, telecommunications, human resources, local government management and in leading social institutions.

Prior to his current assignment, Emanuel was Country Manager for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. Mr. Salinas joined the World Bank in 2005 as a Financial Economist, leading projects on access to finance, financial stability, investment climate, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, trade, innovation and business environment reform in more than 15 countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He was subsequently a Senior Investment Officer at the World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. He holds a Master’s degree in Management and Economic Development from London School of Economics and Political Science, a Master’s degree on International Banking and Finance and a Bachelor’s degree on Finance from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México and executive education from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern in Switzerland. 

She has a Doctor Degree from University of Turin and University of Tirana and a Master Degree on European Studies from the Graduate School of European Studies of Albania. Her research interests are in Public Procurement. She is author of several scientific papers presented in International Conferences and published in national and international scientific journals and co-author of several Manuals on public procurement procedures. Since the year 2009 she is a lecturer at the Magistrate School of Albania at “Public Procurement” Course and Albanian School of Public Administration.

Jan is a Swedish national and holds a Master in Business Administration from Uppsala University. Before joining the EBRD in 1999 Jan was working with procurement and implementation of IFI and donor funded development projects in Latvia, Estonia, Zambia, Vietnam and Poland. The day-to-day support to the Bank’s projects and the cooperation with other International development institutions and stakeholders in public sector project implementation forms the basis of a Procurement Director’s daily work. However, the establishment of the International Master Class in Public Procurement Management together with Tor Vergata University in Rome and the Belgrade Law Faculty is one of the most exciting initiatives spearheaded by Jan. This initiative directly supports the Bank’s mandate of investing in improving people’s lives. The Master classes have formed a natural and large network of public procurement professionals in the Bank’s countries of operations that consists of not only skilled procurement professionals but also friends for the future.

Mr. Elhadj Malick Soumare is a PhD Engineer in Civil Engineering with over 25 years of experience in Procurement/Contracts Management in government and IFIs/MDBs. After having worked as a Project Manager at the Agency for the Execution of Works of Public Interest Against Underemployment (AGETIP), Head of the Division of Procurement at the Commission of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Senior Specialist in Procurement at the African Development Bank (AfDB), he is currently working as a Global Lead Procurement Specialist based in Jeddah, at the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB).

Mr. Taylor is the Deputy Director General, Procurement, Portfolio and Financial Management Department concurrently Director of Procurement Division 1. Jeff has been working on the public procurement of infrastructure projects for 35 years, the last 15 years of which have been with ADB. In his time with ADB, he was the regional procurement head for Central, West Asia; Secretary to ADB’s Operational Procurement Committee; Head of ADB’s Institutional Procurement and chairperson of its Institutional Procurement Committee. He is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Purchasing and Supply. He holds a Master of Science in Procurement. 

Mr. Ignacio Gonzalez is continuously involved in advising on complex procurement cases in the last 10 years of his professional life from when he joined his current position is a Senior Procurement Specialist in the Procurement Office, the Policy unit on project procurement at EIB. His work also includes developing policies and procedures, training and external coordination on procurement. Before that he worked from 2006 evaluating transport projects for the EIB. He holds a Masters degree in Civil Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.