WASHINGTON, February 1, 2011 – Newly-appointed World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean, Françoise Clottes, will travel to Jamaica this week to meet with Finance Minister Audley Shaw and other government officials to discuss the country’s most pressing development issues. Topics will include the Bank’s support in promoting debt sustainability and addressing the rising rates of crime and violence.
Clottes will also meet with local experts, key industry leaders, NGOs and other civil society representatives to talk about social and economic issues confronting the country. She will visit World Bank-sponsored projects in Jamaica, including a community health clinic and sports field in West Kingston and an early childhood education center, where a number of students and their parents are beneficiaries of PATH, the Bank-supported national conditional cash transfer program.
Clottes was appointed recently by Pamela Cox, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean. “As the new country director for the Caribbean, Françoise will continue to work closely with our partner countries to develop innovative solutions to development issues and regional integration,” said Cox.
Clottes, a French national, joined the Bank in 1994 as a Young Professional. Since then, she has held several positions in the Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure Unit and the Europe and Central Asia Region, the most recent one being Country Manager for Morocco in the Middle East and North Africa Region.
Clottes holds a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University, a master in international economics from the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (France) and a master in public administration from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (France).
“I am honored 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 Clottes.
Clottes replaces Yvonne Tsikata, who has been appointed Sector Director for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Department in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Vice Presidency. Tsikata, a Ghanaian national, had been the World Bank’s Country Director for the Caribbean since November 2007.
