SANTIAGO – This week, the Government of Chile and the World Bank Group announced the formal opening of the World Bank Group’s Office in Santiago, capping 72 years of partnership.
The office was inaugurated Wednesday with the participation of Minister of Finance Nicolás Eyzaguirre Guzmán, Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism Jorge Rodríguez Grossi, World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean Jorge Familiar, World Bank’s Senior Director for Development Economics Shantayanan Devarajan, and Alberto Rodriguez, Director for the Andean Countries at the World Bank.
“The World Bank’s decision to approach Chile to establish the Center demonstrates the strength of the institutions, credibility and respect our country has in the international arena. We hope to continue strengthening our relations to contribute to generating good public practices for Chile and the region,” said Eyzaguirre.
Chile has been one of Latin America’s fastest-growing economies in recent decades, enabling the country to significantly reduce poverty. Between 2000 and 2015, the population living in poverty (on US$4 per day) decreased from 26 percent to 7.9 percent. Poverty reduction was driven by economic growth, which created jobs for people and resources for government, and by a careful focus on human capital development through investments in education and health.
The new World Bank Group Office in Chile, led by Gaston Mariano Blanco as Representative, will manage the ongoing country portfolio for Chile, including the development of a new Country Partnership Framework between the WBG and the Government of Chile in 2018, according to a press release.
The WBG office, housed in Av. Apoquindo 2929 Piso 13 Oficina 1300-A, Las Condes, Santiago, hosts a Regional Research and Development Center, created jointly by the Government of Chile and the World Bank’s Development Economics (DEC) Vice-Presidency. The Center’s core activities include advancing the work on the internationally recognized datasets of Doing Business, Enterprise Surveys, Women, Business and the Law, and Enabling the Business of Agriculture. It will also undertake research on other topics of regional and global significance, including financial sector development in middle to high income economies. The Center is led by Adrian Gonzalez.
