World Bank's Goldstein meets Prime Minister

Donors have admired the Seven Point Agreement between the major political parties on November 1.
In a meeting with Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai at his office today, the World Bank country director for Nepal and Bangladesh Ellen Goldstein welcomed the landmark deal and reaffiramed the World Bank's stand to help Nepal keep the momentum.
"We at the World Bank have long held the view that Nepal needs to come to early closure on the outstanding issues of peace and constitution writing in order to get on a path of accelerated development,” she said, adding that the bank would like to support Nepal in addressing short-run economic challenges in the areas of fiscal management and the financial sector.
Goldstein also shared the highlights of the World Bank Group’s Interim Strategy for Nepal for the Fiscal Years 2012 and 2013 and informed the Prime Minister that the Bank’s financial commitment to Nepal has more than tripled in the past five years.
She also introduced the World Bank’s new Country Manager for Nepal Tahseen Sayed to the Prime Minister. While Goldstein is based in Dhaka, Sayed will provide leadership to the bank’s day to day operations in Nepal out of the Kathmandu Office starting on January 15, 2012.Sayed, who joined the World Bank in 1996, has over fifteen years of experience in project management experience.
She moved to the bank’s Bangladesh Office in December 2008 as operations advisor and deputy country director. Before joining the World Bank, she held a number of positions in the Canadian International Development Agency, the Pakistan Institute of Strategic Studies, the Center for Documentation and Research of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC.
She holds a degree in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University.