Marrtje van Putten of the Netherlands appointed to the World Bank's Inspection Panel (October 4 ,1999)

CONTACT: Antonia M. Macedo (202) 458-2597

WASHINGTON, October 4, 1999—Ms. Maartje Van Putten, a Dutch national, has been appointed as a new member of the World Bank's Inspection Panel. Ms. Van Putten replaces Mr. Ernst Guenther-Broeder who completed his service with the three member Panel on July 31.

Ms. Van Putten was until recently a member of the European Parliament. She has been a highly active member of the Committee on Development and Cooperation for the past 10 years. Ms. Van Putten has produced outstanding reports on the effects of the GATT/Uruguay Round on the developing countries, fair trade, development aid for Asia and Latin America, the EU program for tropical forests and European policies towards indigenous peoples. She has extensive exposure to developing countries, and is active with non-governmental organizations and extremely committed to the cause of development.

Ms. Van Putten has worked closely with the WWF European Policy Office as a key political partner to promote better EU conservation and sustainable development policies. She has also been a consistently active member of the ACP (African Caribbean and Pacific

Group)-European Union Joint Assembly.

Ms. Van Putten's appointment takes effect immediately.

For more on the Inspection Panel, visithttp://www.worldbank.org/html/ins-panel/