New Delhi, May 29, 2007 –
Paolo
Martelli, the newly appointed Regional Director for South Asia at IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has reaffirmed IFC’s commitment to contributing to the region’s economy by working closely with private enterprise across key sectors.
Key components of IFC’s strategy in the region include promoting private investment in infrastructure and providing advice on specific projects, including public-private partnerships; investing equity and debt in midsize companies and helping them become internationally competitive, with a special focus on agribusiness; supporting energy efficiency, cleaner production, and use of renewable energy in industry and infrastructure; and promoting SME development and a better investment climate through advisory services.
Farida Khambata, IFC Regional Vice President for Asia and Latin America, welcomed Martelli and thanked his predecessor: “IFC’s commitment to South Asia has grown strongly in the past three years, under the leadership of Iyad Malas. Iyad’s contribution to furthering private sector growth and enhancing our development impact has been invaluable. Paolo Martelli, with his rich experience from other emerging markets, is well placed to take the agenda of inclusive development even further.”
As outgoing regional director, Iyad Malas noted ongoing opportunities for IFC: “Our strategy over the years and today is in line with our broader development goal to promote open and competitive markets in developing countries. Today IFC not only invests, but also manages advisory programs in extremely challenging and difficult markets.”
Paolo Martelli expanded on IFC’s priorities for the region’s private sector: “Going forward, our focus sectors include infrastructure; increasing access to finance to underserved segments of the market; manufacturing, including engineering and pharmaceuticals; services sectors, such as tourism, information technology, and healthcare; and rural development, including agriprocessing, rural finance, and rural infrastructure.”
Martelli brings strong capabilities in relationship building with private sector clients as well as with governments and regulatory authorities. He has spent over seven years in Latin America for IFC, establishing and managing successful operations in the Andean region and, since September 2004, as Senior Regional Manager for Mexico and Central America. The creation of a secondary mortgage market in Colombia and the first public-private partnerships program in Mexico are key examples of successful teamwork and cross-boundary collaboration achieved under his leadership.
Martelli joined IFC in 1996 as an investment officer. Previously he held senior financial positions at the Merloni Termosanitari Group in Italy and was an investment banker with Nomura International in London. He graduated from the University of Modena and holds an MBA from London Business School, a Masters in Energy Economics from the Scuola Superiore Enrico Mattei in Milan, and the qualification of Dottore Commercialista (chartered accountant) in Italy.
About IFC
IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, promotes open and competitive markets in developing countries. IFC supports sustainable private sector companies and other partners in generating productive jobs and delivering basic services, so that people have opportunities to escape poverty and improve their lives. Through FY06, IFC Financial Products has committed more than $56 billion in funding for private sector investments and mobilized an additional $25 billion in syndications for 3,531 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC Advisory Services and donor partners have provided more than $1 billion in program support to build small enterprises, to accelerate private participation in infrastructure, to improve the business enabling environment, to increase access to finance, and to strengthen environmental and social sustainability. For more information, please visit
www.ifc.org
.
IFC’s activities in South Asia cover a wide range of sectors: financial, engineering, pharmaceuticals, ports, highways, agribusiness, microfinance institutions, housing finance, IT companies, and hospitals. IFC’s investments include loans in a variety of currencies, equity investments, quasi-equities of varying types, currency and interest rate swaps, carbon finance. IFC also provides advisory services that support private sector development, through the IFC SouthAsia Enterprise Development Facility and various global programs.
