Santiago, July 29, 2019— Virginia Brandon is the new World Bank representative in Chile. She will replace Gaston Blanco, who held the position for the past three years.
Alberto Rodríguez, World Bank director for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, expressed his gratitude to the Government of Chile for its support to Mr. Blanco as head of the Bank’s program in the country. He also said he was certain that the new representative will continue the effective dialogue with the government and other strategic actors to promote Chile’s development.
“I am honored to have been chosen to assume this new role. I believe it is essential to maintain and strengthen the World Bank’s commitment to Chile’s development. It is considered a high-income country, but it still has challenges and opportunities with respect to eradicating poverty and promoting shared prosperity, in other words, to creating a society with more equal opportunity,” said Ms. Brandon, the World Bank’s resident representative in Chile.
A U.S. citizen, Ms. Brandon holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and international business from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in foreign service, international business and finance from Georgetown University.
She has experience in Latin America, specifically in Caribbean countries, where she worked to strengthen operations and projects. She began her career at the World Bank in 2010 as an advisor to the U.S. executive director and later as an advisor for private-sector and financial development. Before her current appointment, she was the senior operations officer for the World Bank Group’s Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation Global Practice in Washington, D.C.
Before joining the World Bank, Ms. Brandon was an economist at the Office of African Nations of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and a researcher specializing in business competitiveness.
In addition to leading the dialogue process with the government, the new representative will manage the portfolio of operations in Chile, which concentrates on knowledge generation, technical assistance and research.
Between 2010 and 2018, the World Bank completed over 36 studies for Chile in the areas of education, health, social safety nets, poverty, innovation, competitiveness, public spending, transportation, energy, water, land development and agriculture. Additionally, the Bank is financing a project to strengthen public universities.
This year, the World Bank is working with the Government of Chile to implement a series of strategic projects for the APEC 2019, especially in the financial pillar, and to prepare for the Investor Forum, the COP25 and the Pacific Alliance – Chile is currently pro-tempore president – with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises, protection of the middle class and fiscal decentralization.
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