Alfredo Sfeir-Younis

Alfredo is the Director of The World Bank office in Switzerland as well as Special Representative to the United Nations and World Trade Organization.

During his career at The World Bank, he has held several positions in the areas of environmental and sustainable development and principal evaluation of projects and programs. He was also principal economist in the West Africa Region. He has led a number of operational missions and has been the author of policy papers and statements of the Bank in such areas as forestry, fisheries, water management, irrigation, desertification and biodiversity.

He has also made contributions in the areas of poverty eradication, financing of development, gender and women’s issues, trade and development, the role of indigenous peoples, human rights and preserving the culture through sustainable development. He has been speaking for some time now on the important linkages that exist between spirituality and economics and on the role that human values play in the decision making process both nationally and globally. During his stay at the UN, he made a number of presentations on peace and economic development, the spiritual dimensions of the globalization process, and the relationship between the material and non-material aspects of development and progress, including moral and ethical dimensions.