Mari Pangestu, the World Bank Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships, will visit Tanzania from November 15-16, 2021.
Ms Pangestu will hold discussions with President Samia Suluhu Hassan and other senior government officials as well as development partners and youth representatives, and members of academia and think tanks.
Given her leadership of the research and data functions of the World Bank Group, Ms Pangestu’s visit and meetings will underscore the importance of data and evidence driven decision-making processes for strong development outcomes.
Ms Pangestu will also visit World Bank-supported projects to hear firsthand from beneficiaries. The projects she will visit include:
- The Dar es Salaam Metropolitan Development Project
- The Tanzania Citizen-Centric Judicial Modernization and Justice Delivery Project
- The Development Support for Tanzania Statistics Project
- The Tanzania Productive Social Safety Net Project
Before joining the World Bank Group, Ms Pangestu served as Indonesia’s Minister of Trade from 2004 to 2011 and as Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy from 2011 to 2014. She has a vast experience of over 30 years in academia, second track processes, international organizations and government working in areas related to international trade, investment and development in multilateral, regional and national settings.
Most recently, Ms. Pangestu was a Senior Fellow at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, as well as Professor of International Economics at the University of Indonesia, adjunct professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University and a Board Member of Indonesia Bureau of Economic Research, as well as Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta.
The World Bank financed portfolio in Tanzania includes 21 national projects with total net commitments of $4.8 billion. Key sectors supported include transport, urban development, education, energy, water, social protection, environment/natural resources, digital development, and governance. Tanzania is also part of five regional projects with its own total commitments reaching $698.3 million. These projects are supporting the energy, environment, and education sectors.
