Thursday, February 1st, 2007

Introducing Lester Dally, World Bank Acting Special Representative in Japan

"I am very excited about our work here and the challenges ahead.” Lester Dally, the World Bank’s Acting Special Representative in Japan, spoke enthusiastically of raising the Japan-World Bank partnership to new heights upon his arrival in Tokyo in January 2007.

Having served as Deputy Director of the Bank Tokyo office from 1997 to 2000, Mr.Dally is well versed in Japanese affairs. "I look forward to collaborating with many colleagues and friends in the Japanese development community". Mr. Dally takes over from Yukio Yoshimura, who retired from the Bank earlier in the month.

As the Bank’s second largest shareholder after the U.S., Japan is an important Bank partner in many fields, including initiatives such as the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). Mr.Dally will lead efforts to deepen the relationship with the Japanese government as well as the development community at large. Mr Dally is a New Zealander and graduate of Auckland and Harvard Universities.

Prior to his arrival in Tokyo, Mr. Dally worked closely with the Tokyo Office as Senior External Affairs Counsellor based in Washington D.C. A strong supporter of the TDLC who played a key role in its inception, one of Mr.Dally’s goals here is to ensure closer cooperation between the Bank and the TDLC. The Bank’s Governance and Anticorruption (GAC) Strategy consultations,for example, were conducted collaboratively, with the TDLC connecting participants from government and civil society in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia,New Zealand Australia and Japan.

"I am convinced from our work together on recent initiatives that teamwork and collaboration with our partners produces better outcomes and enables us to reach a broader set of audiences and partners within Japan", emphasized Mr. Dally.

"Using the TDLC, one of the most sophisticated global communications systems, enables us to achieve greater reach and impact for our government relations, communications and constituency outreach in Japan, the Asia region and beyond."