AsianScientist (Sep. 6, 2011) – World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick and Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam today signed an agreement launching a new World Bank Group-Singapore hub to boost support for developing countries in the region.
The expansion builds on the successful experience of the World Bank-Singapore Urban-Hub and Infrastructure Center of Excellence (IFCOE), which is already supporting regional projects, including the securitization of future toll road revenues in China, public-private partnership in water supply and treatment in Indonesia, and urban transportation planning in Vietnam.
“Singapore has been a real world practitioner of a dynamic approach to development,” Zoellick said.
“Singapore’s relentless spirit of policy and economic innovation keeps the country at the cutting edge of thinking about the next generation of challenges. This partnership will leverage the experience of Singapore and also the full spectrum of the World Bank Group’s knowledge and financial services, making it the first combined World Bank Group office of its kind outside Washington.”
The signing took place during the World Bank-Singapore Infrastructure Summit 2011, an annual event organized by the World Bank, the Singapore Ministry of Finance, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, in association with the Financial Times and the World Bank-ASEAN Infrastructure Finance Network, with support from the Australian aid agency, AusAID.
The Office of the World Bank’s Chief Economist for East Asia and the Pacific, Bert Hofman, will also move from Washington DC to the Singapore Office. Hofman will also serve as Director of the World Bank’s Singapore Office.
The expanded World Bank Group presence includes the IFC (International Finance Corporation) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and the Singapore office will increase to a staff of about 70.
World Bank infrastructure lending for the fiscal year 2011, ending June 30, was US$24 billion divided among energy, transport, water, and information and computer technology sectors.
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Source: World Bank.
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