World Bank appoints new South Asia chief

July 3, 2008 (LBO) - The World Bank has appointed Isabel Guerrero, country director for India as vice president for the South Asia region, replacing Praful Patel who retired on July 02, the multilateral lender said. "It is a most special privilege to be invited to take on this role in one of the most important regions of the world as measured by the development agenda," said Guerrero in Washington this week.

"South Asia is a region of extraordinary hope as demonstrated by its aggressive growth over the past decade," Guerrero was quoted as saying in a statement.

It is also a region in which the range of profound human challenges stand out starkly, from poverty to conflict to tremendous environmental management issues.

"Finding solutions in South Asia means finding solutions to some of the most intractable problems facing our world.

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Guerrero said her time in India had also demonstrated to her the region's phenomenal capacity to find those solutions with the sort of innovation and intellectual creativity that was already driving the sub-continent into the world's imagination.

World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said she brought to the task a strong track record in development.

During her