Antonella Bassani is Vice President of the Europe and Central Asia Region at the World Bank. In this position, Antonella leads the World Bank's strategic, financing and knowledge work for this region. Antonella has held several senior leadership positions in the World Bank, including most recently as Vice President for Budget, Performance Review and Strategic Planning. Prior to that she was responsible for overseeing operations in two regions as Director for Strategy and Operations (East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa), providing leadership and support to regional teams in the delivery of high-quality strategies and operations, flexible and innovative financing, and knowledge services. 

Antonio Nucifora serves as Practice Manager for Fiscal Policy and Growth in Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank Group. Since joining the Bank, he has worked with countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East and North Africa regions. In his most recent assignment before moving to Brazil, Antonio was based in Tunis as the Lead Country Economist, where he led the Bank’s policy advice to the Government of Tunisia, managed a series of large Development Policy Lending operations, and coordinated a vast analytical program. Prior to his work in Tunisia, Nucifora was the Senior Country Economist for Malawi and Mozambique. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where he was also a Rhodes Scholar, and a master’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE). 

Dr. Aneta Krstevska is the Chief Economist at the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia, where she previously served as Director of the Research Department. She is a member of the Monetary Policy Committee and is actively involved in the formulation of monetary policy, the macroeconomic forecasting process, and financial sector analysis. Dr. Krstevska also participates in the preparation and discussion of the country's Economic Reforms Program in collaboration with the European Union (EU) and other EU integration initiatives. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Faculty of Economics in Skopje, where she also earned a master's degree in Monetary Economics. Since 2007, she has been a part-time professor at the University American College Skopje. From 2001 to 2002, she served as a non-executive member of the Governing Board of the Deposit Insurance Fund. Her research covers several fields, including Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics, Banking, and Financial Markets.

Ivailo V. Izvorski is the Chief Economist of the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank. Over nearly 30 years, he has worked in technical and managerial positions on the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, and Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank, the Institute of International Finance, and the International Monetary Fund. Before his current position, Ivailo was the Manager of the World Bank Global Debt, Macro, and Growth Unit and, before that, the manager of the macroeconomists for Europe and Central Asia. Ivailo holds MA and PhD degrees in economics from Yale University. Ivailo is coauthor of numerous publications, including of Diversified Development: Making the Most of Natural Resources in Eurasia, Reinvigorating Growth in Resource-Rich Sub-Saharan Africa, and of Greater Heights: Growing to High Income in Europe and Central Asia. 

Armen Nurbekyan is a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Armenia since 2022. Prior to this, Mr. Nurbekyan was the Head of the Macroeconomics Directorate and a member of the Executive Committee of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), where he coordinated monetary policy, research, and statistics. Mr. Nurbekyan has worked in the Monetary Policy, Financial Stability, and Research departments of the CBA, as well as in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). His research interests include monetary and macroprudential policies, oil, central bank transparency, macroeconomic policy issues in emerging markets, and financial dollarization. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Yerevan State University and an MBA from the American University of Armenia.

Frank Vandermeeren is a Team Leader for Single Market and Competitiveness Analysis at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW). His work centers on industrial policy, global value chains, and the European Union’s economic exposure to international partners. Frank has contributed to policy research and analysis on technological vulnerabilities, investment trends, and the development of industrial ecosystems.