USGLC

Leonardo Martinez-Diaz is the Biden Administration nominee for U.S. Executive Director of the World Bank.

Martinez-Diaz currently serves as the Managing Director for Climate Finance at the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

Previously, Martinez-Diaz served as the Global Director of Sustainable Finance Center at the World Resources Institute. He served in the Obama Administration as Director and Senior Advisor of the Office of Policy at the United States Agency for International Development and later holding Deputy Assistant Secretary roles for both Energy and Environment and Western Hemisphere at the Treasury Department. In addition, he was also Director of the World Bank’s Commission on the Reform of World Bank Governance.

Statements on development, diplomacy, and U.S. global leadership:

On Climate: “Meeting U.S. international climate finance pledges is crucial for preserving trust in U.S. leadership and supporting countries in delivering on what they have said they will do to mitigate.” (source)

On the World Bank: “The United States benefits in several ways from the World Bank: the Bank promotes development that is good for global stability and security, it helps instill U.S. values in elites from developing countries who work inside or with the Bank, it complements U.S. bilateral development efforts, and it provides a forum friendly to U.S. interests from which to engage the world on global issues. And not trivially, it’s a very inexpensive investment given the benefits.” (source)

On Economic Security: “If we are prepared to make the difficult choices needed to keep the United States engaged in the world and at the center of the world economy, then the rise of India and China should be welcomed as good news. But if we fail at these challenges, the coming decades will be the story of how American influence was eclipsed and of how the United States lost its ability to manage the world economy.” (source)

On Economic Growth in Developing Countries: “Foreign capital can be leveraged to strengthen the banking sectors of developing and transition economies, but how the opening process is managed is crucial. Policymakers’ intelligent management of this process can mean the difference between a market opening that only produces quick profits for foreign banks and an opening that also strengthens the local financial sector and generates long-term benefits for the host economy.” (source)

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