World Bank appoints new country manager for Azerbaijan

The World Bank has appointed Sasha Bakes as its new country manager for Azerbaijan, replacing Stephanie Stahlmeister, whose term in the role has ended.

The bank said Stahlmeister stepped down on July 1 after serving as country manager for Azerbaijan since her appointment in July 2023, Caliber.Az reports per local media.

Bakes is expected to assume his new responsibilities in August. Before the appointment, he served as principal investment officer in the European manufacturing, agribusiness and services team at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.

He has more than 17 years of experience at the IFC, where he previously worked in the natural resources and infrastructure team, based in London, Washington and Johannesburg. During that period, he focused largely on projects across Africa.

Before joining the IFC, Bakes worked for seven years at Lux-Development, Luxembourg’s development cooperation agency, where he managed rural development initiatives in Laos, with a focus on agribusiness and rural infrastructure.

Bakes holds a PhD in physics from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from INSEAD business school.