The World Bank Group’s new president, Ajay Banga, will visit Jamaica next week as part of his global tour of regions in which the bank has operations.

Banga, a former MasterCard CEO, assumed office on June 2, as the 14th World Bank Group president. The Washington DC-based multilateral development bank on Friday (June 9) announced a months-long global tour for its new president.

His first stop next week will be in Peru and thereafter Jamaica with the aim of the months-long global tour being to accelerate the bank’s evolution to tackle the climate crisis and reinvigorate its development mission. Banga will be visiting countries in every region where the World Bank operates through to December 2023, the 78-year-old institution said in a statement.

Deepening ties with serving countries

Banga will work to identify barriers for private-sector investment, find opportunities to maximise the bank’s impact and deepen ties between the institution and the countries it serves. In a concrete sign of Banga’s commitment to partnerships, he will be joined on his trip to Peru and Jamaica by Inter-American Development Bank president, Ilan Goldfajn.

The two leaders will explore opportunities for greater collaboration and coordination to maximize our joint impact for people. Over the course of the tour, Banga will visit small island states in the Pacific as well as countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, West and East Africa, Europe and Asia.

Between now and December 2023, Banga will visit multiple countries in every region where the World Bank Group operates. During the impact-focused tour, Banga will work to reimagine strategic partnerships with other multilateral banks and development organizations, work to identify barriers for private sector investment and identify opportunities to maximize impact through knowledge, financing and technical assistance.

These intensive visits come at an important time for the World Bank Group and the global community. Intertwined challenges – poverty, climate, pandemics, conflict, and fragility – have made development more difficult, eroding a decade of progress in a matter of months.

The World Bank Group is being asked to evolve and lead global efforts to lift up lower income countries while improving quality of life in middle income countries. At the same time, the institution must confront the climate crisis, debt, food insecurity, pandemics, and fragility; and accelerate access to clean air, water, and energy.