The World Bank has announced the appointment of Dahlia Khalifa as Division Director for the Middle East Department, covering Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. She succeeds Jean-Christophe Carret, who served in the role for four years.
Dahlia Khalifa © WB
The World Bank has announced the appointment of Dahlia Khalifa as Division Director for the Middle East Department, covering Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. She succeeds Jean-Christophe Carret, who served in the role for four years.
Based in Amman, Khalifa will lead the Bank's strategic engagement across five countries with vastly different development trajectories, from Lebanon's post-war reconstruction to Syria's emergence from over a decade of conflict, and Iraq's ongoing economic diversification efforts.
Her mandate covers private sector-led job creation, infrastructure, human capital, sustainable growth, governance and evidence-based policy reform, a broad and demanding agenda in one of the world's most volatile regions.
Khalifa joined the World Bank Group in 2004 and brings deep expertise in finance, investment and private sector development. Most recently, she served as IFC Director for Central Africa and Anglophone West Africa, based in Lagos, where she led investment and advisory operations across the region.
A Lebanese official denied on Thursday a Reuters report that Beirut had agreed with Israel to a shortlist of countries that could send troops to Lebanon to verify the disarmament of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and said it was following up on the issue with Washington.
Israel won't withdraw from southern Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed, the defence minister said on Thursday, qualifying remarks he made a day earlier that had suggested Israeli forces would occupy the territory indefinitely and drew U.S. criticism.
The Strait of Hormuz is "under Iran's control and management", the head of Iran's Basij paramilitary unit, Hossein Taeb, said on Thursday, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
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