Minsk, July 9, 2012 — The World Bank Director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Mr. Qimiao Fan is visiting Belarus on July 9-14, 2012. Mr. Fan is accompanied by Ms. Yvonne Tsikata, World Bank Director for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Europe and Central Asia, and a team of experts that prepared the Belarus Country Economic Memorandum.
Mr. Fan will take part at a launch of the Belarus Country Economic Memorandum: Economic Transformation for Growth for representatives of the policy-makers, the business community, academia, the donor agencies and the mass-media. The report presents a comprehensive assessment of Belarus’s economic growth experience over the past decade and the growth prospects moving forward.
During the visit, the World Bank' team will have high level meetings with the Government and the National Bank to discuss the country outlook, short-and medium-term reform agenda, and its implementation. Meetings with representatives of business circles, academia and the donor community are also on Mr. Fan’s agenda.
While in Belarus, the World Bank’s team is expected to travel to Brest, to meet the Oblast’s leadership, visit enterprises in the Brest Free Economic Zone and social infrastructure objects rehabilitated under the Social Infrastructure Retrofitted Project, supported by the World Bank’s loan.
Mr. Fan oversees the Bank’s program in Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine and leads the Bank’s policy dialogue with the Government counterparts, civil society, and other partners with a focus on results, quality, and efficiency.
Mr. Fan, a Chinese national, joined the Bank in 1991. His most recent assignment was Country Manager for Cambodia. Mr. Qimiao Fan holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, and a BA in Economics from the Jiangxi Institute of Finance and Economics in China. He has published widely on topics related to international economics, investment climate, and the problems of economies in transition.
Belarus joined the World Bank in 1992. Since then, the Bank’s lending commitments in Belarus have totaled US$865 million for 12 projects; about thirty national programs received grant financing totaling US$22.8 million. Along with funding, the Bank provides economic and technical advice to inform the government’s structural reform efforts to lay the foundation for sustainable economic recovery.
