Conference: 30 Years of Partnership between the Republic of Croatia and the World Bank Group

H.E Marko Primorac was appointed as the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Croatia in July 2022. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb. He served as economic advisor to the President of Croatia in 2018-2020.  He was a professor at the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Economics in Zagreb; and was a consultant for the IMF and the World Bank. Minister Primorac was also a member of several expert working groups and commissions at the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labour and Pension System, Family and Social Policy, Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds. He has been a collaborator or project leader of more than 30 professional and scientific research projects in the field of public finance in Croatia and abroad and is an author or co-author of four university textbooks and more than 80 scientific papers and expert articles.

Ms. Gallina A. Vincelette is the World Bank’s Regional Director for the European Union (EU), based in Brussels, Belgium. She is responsible for guiding the Bank’s operational and knowledge engagement with client countries and the EU institutions. Prior to her position in Brussels, Ms. Vincelette was Practice Manager for Macroeconomics, Trade, & Investment in the Europe and Central Asia region of the World Bank. She was responsible for leading the analytical work and lending on macroeconomic and economic policy issues in the Western Balkans, the EU, and Eastern Europe. Ms. Vincelette joined the Bank in 2005 as a Young Professional. Since then, she has worked on economic development issues in a range of low-, middle- and high-income countries around the world. Her professional interests relate to the topics of economic growth, public debt, fiscal policy, and macroeconomic vulnerabilities. She has published multiple works on these topics in international peer-reviewed journals and co-authored books on economic development and transition economics. Prior to joining the Bank, Ms. Vincelette conducted research in academic institutions in Europe and the US.

Mr. Ary Naïm is the Regional Manager for Central and Southeast Europe, of the International Finance Corporation (private sector arm of the World Bank Group). Ary oversees IFC strategy and operations in the Western-Balkans, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland - with the objective to foster innovative private sector investment as a means towards Green, Inclusive, and Resilient Development. Ary’s career spans over more than 30 years in the private financial sector and at IFC, where he has held various positions as Financial Specialist, Head of Access to Finance Advisory Products, and Country Manager, working successively in France, the Middle East and North-Africa, the USA, and Latin America. Ary is an Engineer with a French Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence. He is passionate about the interaction between sustainability, technology, and finance.

Mr. Jehan Arulpragasam is the Country Manager for Croatia and Slovenia. In this position, he represents the World Bank in Croatia and Slovenia and oversees the World Bank’s strategic, analytical, operational, and knowledge program in both countries. Previously, he was Global Practice Manager for Social Protection and Jobs, both in East Asia and the Pacific and in Africa. Prior to that, he served as Advisor to the Managing Director of the World Bank. Mr. Arulpragasam is an economist with 35 years of experience working in international development in over 40 countries world-wide. His work has focused on inclusive growth and human development, covering a range of issues from macro-economic and fiscal policy to structural sector reform and social policy. An experienced leader with a decade of managerial experience, Mr. Arulpragasam has managed large World Bank lending and analytical programs and managed staff across multiple continents. He has a record of developing strong partnerships across Governments and with development partners to deliver results. Mr. Arulpragasam has a B.A. in Economics from Cornell University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mr. Rafael de Hoyos is the World Bank’s Program Leader in Human Development (HD) for EU member states. Based in Brussels, Rafael oversees EU member states’ education, social protection, and health programs. He is a founding partner of “Xaber,” an NGO promoting using evidence to design and evaluate education policies in Latin America. He has published in peer-reviewed journals and advised governments on evaluation policies, strategies to improve student learning and reduce school dropout rates, and other topics. Previously, he was the chief of advisers to Mexico’s under-minister of education (2008-11). Rafael worked in the Development Economics Vice Presidency at the World Bank (2006–08), at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge (2005–06), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL), and at the United Nations World Institute for Development Economics Research in Finland. He holds an MA in development from the University of Sussex and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Cambridge.

Ms. Margareta Mađerić Margareta Maderic is the State Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy. She has held the position of the State Secretary in the ministry responsible for social welfare for several years, and in this mandate, she oversees social policy aimed at protecting and promoting the rights of children and victims of violence, having experience in the field of protection and promotion of the rights of vulnerable groups. Her political, professional and civil activism is aimed at the most vulnerable groups, especially children, young people and victims of domestic violence, and is primarily reflected through proactive action in various institutions, initiatives and bodies. She is the President of the Council for Children, which was established for the purpose of efficient implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and is a member of the Working Group for the preparation of the National Action Plan for the implementation of the United Nations Security Council resolution on Women, Peace and Security for the period from 2019 to 2023. She is the deputy president of the National Team for the suppression and fight against violence against women and domestic violence.

Mr. Nithin Umapathi, Senior Economist, works internationally on the design of welfare, energy affordability, and labor market policies. Over the past few years, he has played advisory and technical assistance roles supporting European energy subsidy, labor, and welfare system reforms. He has published on wide-ranging topics, including aging, social protection, energy poverty, education, early childhood development programs, and econometrics of program evaluation. His work has been featured in the Economist, Forbes, Financial Times, and Brookings Institution blog and published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Applied Econometrics, World Development, Journal of Development Studies, Journal of African Economies, Journal of Development Effectiveness, Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies and Asia Pacific Viewpoint. Nithin Received his PhD in Economics from University College London.

Mr. Boris Jokić, PhD, is the Director of the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb. He holds a degree in psychology from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb and a PhD from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. His scientific career has been strongly rooted in the field od psychology of education. His most recent research focuses on the effects of pandemic on aspirations of children and youth, their learning and trust.  He was a member of the National Council of Education and is one of the authors of the current Croatian strategy of education, science and technology. He was the leader of the Comprehensive Curricular Reform of early and pre-school, elementary and secondary education in Croatia. The ideas, processes and values in this reform led to mass protests of support all over Croatia in 2016 and 2017. He has a weekly radio show on Yammat FM and is a regular columnist for T-Portal.

Ms. Martina Silov, is the Executive Director at Croatian Artificial Intelligence Association (CroAI). Before that, Martina worked at CroAI as a Project Manager and was in charge of all projects and events regarding the Association - philosophical and tech meetups, parties, educations, conferences etc. She’s currently managing three different EU projects.

Ms. Matea Vasilj is the Vice President of the University of Zagreb Students’ Assembly and a second-year data science master’s degree student at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing at the University of Zagreb. Matea is also the organizer of numerous events in the EESTEC LC Zagreb student association and head of the Digital Technologies Committee at the Students’ Assembly. She works on organizing FER Alumni talks through the Institut za promociju znanosti (Institute for Science Promotion) association and works on science popularization through the Podkist podcast. Winner of the Rector's award for the interdisciplinary workshop Pravo IT(i). Software Development Team Lead at the Ultrax technologies StartUp and a board member at the University Computing Centre.