Conference on Financing Health, Pension and Unemployment Benefits in the Western Balkans

SPEAKERS

Mihail Arandarenko is associate professor of Labour Economics at the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade. He is also chairman of the Board of the Foundation for the Advancement of Economics in Belgrade and Special Advisor to the Minister of Economy and Regional Development, Serbia. He obtained his PhD from the University of Belgrade in 1998 and spent academic 1999-2000 as post-doctoral fellow at the Collegium Budapest – Institute for Advanced Study. He has published extensively in Serbian, English and German, including the monographs: 'Mapping Serbian Labor Market' (2006), 'Development of Social Policy in Serbia and Montenegro' (2003), and 'Economic Theory in Transition' (1997). Prof. Arandarenko's research areas include labour markets, employment programmes, industrial relations, social policy and regional analysis. He has been consulting short and long term for leading international agencies, including the World Bank, UNDP, ILO, EAR, OECD etc. He is a member of Employment Council of the Government of Serbia since 2001. He served as Lead Advisor for the implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategy of Serbia (2004-2005), Chairman of the Task Force for the preparation of National Employment Strategy (2005) and Special Advisor to the Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Policy (2006-2007). 

Jane Armitage is the Country Director and Regional Coordinator for Southeast Europe and leads the World Bank's policy dialogue, partnership strategy, program delivery and overall relationship in the countries of the Western Balkans. Ms. Armitage joined the World Bank in 1985 as a Young Professional and then worked for five years as an economist in the Southern Africa Department.  Thereafter, she worked in the Investment Department, followed by an assignment as Special Assistant to the Managing Directors.  In 1993 she became Manager of the Labor Markets, Training and Social Insurance Division.  With the appointment of Mr. Wolfensohn as President in 1995, she returned to the Executive Offices to aid in the Presidential transition.  Her more recent assignments include serving as Director, External Affairs and UN Affairs (1996-2000), Director, Strategy and Operations in the Latin America and Caribbean Region (2000-2002) and Country Director for Central America (2003-2007) where she led the World Bank's country dialogue and assistance programs in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Ms. Armitage holds a Bachelor’s Degree in economics from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.   

Arup Banerji is Manager for Human Development Economics as well as the Lead Economist for Human Development for the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank.  In his career at the World Bank, he has worked on both research and operations in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East – on a variety of issues relating to governance, employment, institutions, public sector reform, social sector reforms, poverty reduction and economic growth strategies.  He is a principal author of books including the recent From Red to Gray on Aging Populations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Enhancing Job Opportunities in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, World Development Report 2002 on the role of institutions in development, Better Governance for Development in the Middle East and North Africa, World Development Report 1995 on labor markets, and numerous other refereed journal articles and discussion papers.  Prior to joining the World Bank, Dr. Banerji taught at the Center for Development Economics at Williams College, Massachusetts, where he was the Dean of Graduate Studies, and at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Banerji holds a Ph.D. and a Master's degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Gordon Betcherman is a Lead Economist in the Human Development Unit of the Europe and Central Asia Region (ECA) at the World Bank. He joined the regional unit after seven years in the Bank’s central Social Protection Unit where he led the Labor Market Group. In his current position, Dr. Betcherman is responsible for research, policy, and operational support activities in the ECA region in a variety of employment-related areas including labor market analysis, labor market policy, and social protection for workers. He has just co-authored a new book, From Red to Gray, about aging populations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He has published widely in the fields of labor economics and industrial relations and has been a frequent speaker and media commentator. Prior to joining the World Bank in 1998, Dr. Betcherman held senior positions in research organizations in Canada. He is a Visiting Fellow at the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University. He obtained his PhD from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Ramo Bralić was appointed Health Insurance Fund Director in 2001 and has been performed this function since. In the period 1998-2001 he was Minister of Trade in Montenegro Government. He was a member of Montenegro Central Bank Council for one term, as well as member of assembly of Self-Management Interest Community for Foreign Economic Relations. During his career he was representative of Montenegro in the Council of Associated Labor and a Member of Economic Committee from 1988 to 1990. He has been a member of management boards of several institutions. For two terms, during the period 1990-1996, he was a Member of Montenegro Parliament, and he was also a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Budget and Finance over four year term. Graduated from college in 1974, completed Masters Degree in 1980. 

Tamás Evetovits is a senior health financing specialist at the Barcelona Office of WHO/EURO. Previously he worked as director of international programs at the Health Services Management Training Center (HSMTC) at Semmelweis University, Budapest, where he was also responsible for the World Bank Institute’s regional Flagship courses delivered jointly by Semmelweis University, WBI and WHO. He has extensive experience in training and consultancy in the areas of health financing policy and capacity building in countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Michele Gragnolati is a health economist at the World Bank. He holds a PhD from Princeton University and an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is currently working on health sector reform in the Western Balkans and, more specifically, on: (i) reforming primary health care towards family medicine: (ii) reforming provider payment methods and (iii) strengthening capacity for planning and monitoring of provision of health care. Before joining the Europe and Central Asia Region at the World Bank he worked on health and social protection in Latin America and South Asia.

Claudia Habl is a Senior Health Economist at Gesundheit Österreich (GÖG), Vienna-based, Public Health Institute. For more than ten years Ms. Habl has researched on the performance of health care and pharmaceutical systems, with the focus on pricing, reimbursement and resource distribution issues. Besides her research and consultancy work (e.g. for the European Commission) she is the head of the Austrian Pharmaceutical Price Information System and the Medical Devices Register. She has published a large variety of reports and articles, the latest one being on Pricing and Reimbursment in Europe.

Kenichi Hirose is the Senior Specialist of Social Security at the ILO Sub-regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe, Budapest. Before this appointment, he was Social Protection Specialist at the ILO Sub-regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific at Manila and an Actuary at the ILO headquarters in Geneva. Mr. Hirose’s other appointments included the position of Social Security Actuary at the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan and the position of an Actuary at the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan.

Willi Leibfritz (PhD in Economics), now retired at age 65, worked with the OECD between Autumn 2001 and his retirement in spring 2007 as Head of Division in the Economics Department. Between autumn 2001 and end 2003 he was Head of the Structural Policy Division (SPAD I) and after that until his retirement he was Head of Country Studies Division III. In SPAD I he was responsible for structural policy work covering a wide range of policy areas to be discussed at the OECD Working Party 1 (including sources of economic growth, taxation, economic and fiscal effects of ageing populations, migration and product market competition). During his time as Head of Division in the Country Studies Branch of the Economics Department his division carried out country surveys on Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, Portugal, Austria, France, Japan, Korea and India. Before this last term at the OECD he has had various posts as economist, senior economist and Head of Division in the Economics Department at the OECD and at the IFO institute for Economic Research in Germany. His fields of interest are general economic policies, macroeconomic and structural analysis, fiscal analysis, taxation and effects of ageing populations. He has published widely in IFO and OECD publications and in national and international journals.

Marco Mantovanelli joined the World Bank in 1993 where he has held various managerial and technical positions, including that of Resident Representative for the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Following a period as senior advisor to the Vice President for External Relations, he was, until June 2007, the Head for External Relations of the Africa region of the World Bank, coordinating staff in Washington and 32 Country Offices in Africa in their engagement with the full range of Bank constituents, including media, civil society and donor partners.  During 2000-2004 he represented the World Bank and led the offices in the Dominican Republic, during a period marked by several policy reversals and uncertainties following a devastating financial crisis, and Haiti, a turbulent time culminating in the ousting of President Aristide.  As Task Team Leader of human development projects, he specialized in the support to the delivery of education services at a decentralized level and on fostering schooling opportunities in rural areas of Latin America and the Caribbean region.  Before joining the World Bank Mr. Mantovanelli worked as an economic research consultant with several US-based firms.  He holds a Masters Degree in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University and one in Political Science and International Relations from Bologna University.  He is married with two children.

Ljerka Marić is currently Director of the Directorate for Economic Planning of BH. Prior to this, Ms Marić was the Minister of Finance and Treasury of BH, Minister of Finance of the Central Bosnia Canton and Assistant Minister and Advisor to the Minister of Finance of the Federation of BH. Ms Marić had completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Sarajevo in 1983 and graduate studies in 1987, at the University of Zagreb.

Tomica Milosavljević is the Minister of Health of Serbia. Since 2001 he was the Assistant Managing Director of the Clinical Center of Serbia and the Managing Director of the Gastroenterology Clinic. In 1996, he was chosen for the position of president of Yugoslav Committee for Gastroenterology Endoscopy. He is a member of governing boards of several committees and one of the editors of the magazine Gastroenterohepatological Archive. He was a chairman of the Organizational Board of the First Yugoslav School for Digestive Endoscopy. Dr. Milosavljević took his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine, University Belgrade in 1979 where he also took his Masters Degree in 1983 and Ph.D. in 1988. He is the Specialist of Internal Medicine with sub-specialization in Gastroenterology. Dr. Milosavljević finished professional specialization in Munich (Klinikum rechts der Isar); Amsterdam (Academic Medical Centar); and, London (St. Mark’s Hospital, London). He is the author of several scientific projects. He speaks English and Russian languages.

Miodrag Radunović is the Minister of Health, Labor and Social Welfare of Montenegro. His previous work included positions at the Surgery Department, General Hospital, Berane, Montenegro and at the Clinical Center, Podgorica, Montenegro. Dr. Radunović was also director of the General Hospital at Berane. Dr. Radunović’s teaching career included teaching surgery at the Secondary School for Nurses, Berane and mentorship for general surgery residency (decision by Teaching and Scientific Council of Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade - Post-Graduate Teaching Council). More recently, he has been a Lecturer of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Podgorica, Montenegro. Currently, Dr. Radunović is Assistant Professor of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Podgorica.  Dr. Radunović took his medical degree in 1982 from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Niš, Serbia. He engaged in the Post- graduate study at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade and specialized in general surgery at the Serbia Clinical Center, Belgrade. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade.

John Pyres is Attaché and Task Manager for Labour and Employment at the Delegation of the European Commission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Pia Schneider is an economist working for the World Bank on health financing and health sector reform in the new EU member states and in South East Europe. She has extensive international experience having worked as a health economist for Abt Associates Inc on health sector reform in Africa, Asia and Central America, and prior to that with BlueCross BlueShield/HMO Oregon (USA) on analyses of insurance and provider performance in a managed care context, and as an economist with the Solothurn hospital (Switzerland) where she developed a hospital-managed health plan for complementary voluntary insurance. She holds a Bachelor and Masters degree in Economics (University of Basel) and a PhD in health economics from the University of London. 

Anita Schwarz is Lead Economist in the Human Development Department in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Region, specifically focused on pensions work.  She is currently working on pension issues throughout the region, especially focused in Turkey, Albania, Bosnia, and Serbia.  Previous to her current appointment, she was lead economist in the Bank’s Social protection department where she was team leader for the pensions work throughout the Bank.  Her work there included working on pension reforms in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Romania, Malta, Thailand, and Morocco.  She was part of the research department team which produced “Averting the Old Age Crisis,” the Bank’s seminal initiation into the world of pension reform.  She has subsequently published country specific work related to reforms where she has worked as well as more analytical pieces.  She holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago and was an assistant professor at the University of Delaware and at the Foreign Service Institute before joining the World Bank.

Sherefedin Shehu is a budget and finance specialist with thirty years of professional experience. At present he is Deputy Minister, Ministry of Finance, Albania. Prior to re-joining the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Shehu has worked with the USAID Projects in Albania and Serbia, the Fiscal Decentralization Initiative for Central and Eastern Europe (OSI/LGI) and the World Bank Institute. He used to be a Professor of Public Finance, Financial Management and Taxation, and, Head of Finance Department at the Faculty of Economics, Tirana University. He has presented papers at national and international conferences and written books, articles, guides and manuals. In 1998 the Barons has awarded him the Certificate of Excellence “Who’s Who in Global Banking and Finance”.

Milan Vodopivec is a staff member of the World Bank, where he has worked in the Research Department and in the Human Development Network. He also served as a State Undersecretary at the Ministry of Labor, Slovenia.  He was a professor and Dean of the first private undergraduate college in Slovenia. His research interests focus on labor market and cash benefit systems. He has published widely in these areas, including a recent book Income Support for the Unemployed: Issues and Options which appeared in the World Bank’s Regional and Sectoral Studies series. He received a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park, USA.