Vorkink out, Anand in

Indian-born Seth Anand will be the new World Bank director for Central and Southern Europe and also handle the relations with Romania, effective August 15. He replaces Andrew Vorkink who will become country manager for Turkey. Vorkink has been WB’s director for Central and Southern Europe for five years and has co-ordinated the operations of the financial institution in Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia. Seth Anand has worked as country manager in Bangladesh and, more recently, as chief of staff for World Bank’s managing director Shengman Zhang. The regional office of the bank will remain Zagreb-based. Another World Bank official to have recently completed his mission in Bucharest is the head of the bank’s local office, Ziad Alahdad. He was replaced by Owaise Saadat, former head of WB’s Armenian office and senior operational advisor for Central Asia. Ziad Alahdad will be appointed operations director of the World Bank Institute in Washington. Romania is currently negotiating a new loan agreement to fund the administrative reform. It also has to meet a series of pre-requirements in the PSAL II agreement. The World Bank has supplied more than $3bn for projects in Romania over the last 12 years. ZF