NASHVILLE, Tenn. ñ Carole Brookins, the World Bank’s executive
director for the United States, will speak about "Tennessee and the
World Bank: Partners in Development" at Vanderbilt University on Oct.
20.
As U.S. executive director for the World Bank since 2001, Brookins
represents the United States government as the largest shareholder on
the organization’s Board of Executive Directors.
The leading institution for poverty reduction around the globe, the
World Bank was established in 1944 to assist developing nations through
loans and advice that helps countries help themselves.
Brookins’ speech in part will point out the importance of the World
Bank to Tennessee, which benefits directly from the investments made by
that organization. Ten of the top 25 foreign export markets for
Tennessee goods and services are developing nations.
The United States’ stake in the World Bank is vast. U.S companies
received more than $1.7 billion in contracts for goods and services
related to World Bank projects from 1998-2003. About 45 percent of U.S.
exports are to developing nations where the World Bank has lending
programs, and millions of jobs in this country are created or sustained
by those exports every year.
In addition, the Bush administration has recognized the role of aid
to developing countries in abating the growth of terrorism, with
Secretary of State Colin Powell recently terming economic development
of the sort provided by the World Bank "a core national security
issue."
An expert on international economic, trade, agricultural and
political issues, in 1980 Brookins founded World Perspectives, a
Washington, D.C.-based strategic advisory group that consults with
international commodity, financial and government entities.
She has been a member of the President’s Export Council; chairman of
the Department of State’s private sector Advisory Committee on Food,
Hunger and Agriculture in Developing Countries; a member of the U.S.
National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation; and chair of that
group’s Food and Agriculture Forum.
The speech, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7
p.m. in 126 Wilson Hall. It is sponsored by the Vanderbilt Institute
for Public Policy Studies (VIPPS) and the Graduate Program in Economic
Development.
Media contact: Susanne Hicks, (615) 322-NEWS
Susanne.hicks@vanderbilt.edu