Vice President of World Bank for the South Asia Region Hartwig Schafer arrives for his first four-day visit to the Maldives. Schafer will be joined by Nena Stoiljkovic, the International Finance Corporation Vice President for Asia and the Pacific.
Schafer and Stoiljkovic will be meeting President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to seek his perspectives on the country's development priorities and convey the World Bank Group's compliments to the new administration.
"Maldives is a remarkable development success that should inspire other developing nations. The country rose from a low-income to a middle-income status, having increased its Gross Domestic Product per capita from USD 268 in 1980 to more than USD 11,000 in 2017," said Schafer. "I am very happy that my visit coincides with the 40-year anniversary of our partnership with the Maldives and I take this opportunity to reaffirm the Bank's commitment to our continued collaboration."
During the visit, Schafer is scheduled to meet communities, private sector and civil society representatives to get feedback on the bank's efforts in the Maldives and observe the outcomes and progress of the projects supported by the institution. The delegation will also meet senior government officials including Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer, Minister of Environment Hussain Rasheed and Governor of the Maldives Monetary Authority Ahmed Naseer.
Before joining the South Asia Region in July 2018, Schafer served as the Vice President for Global Themes and Vice President for Operations Policy and Country Services. He led several key reforms, including the rollout of the World Bank's new policies on procurement, environmental and social safeguards, and improvement of the bank's lending and knowledge instruments. Previously, Schafer served as the World Bank's Country Director for Djibouti, Egypt, and Yemen.
Maldives became a member of the World Bank in 1978 and has enjoyed a trusted partnership with the institution for the past 40 years. World Bank has implemented 29 projects across many development areas, worth over USD 255 million.