Laurent Msellati is the Country Manager for Mauritania, after being the Practice Manager for the Latin America and the Caribbean Region in the Agriculture Global Practice of the World Bank. Previously, Mr. Msellati, a French national, held various positions in the Bank in the Middle East and North Africa (MNA), East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) and Latin America (LAC), including field assignments in Morocco between 1998-2001, as Senior Operations Officer and in Vietnam between 2003-2008 as Portfolio and Operations Manager.
He has a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Economics from the Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi (Italy), and a Doctorate degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Nantes (France). His pre-Bank experience included work in a veterinary practice in Brittany France, in the private sector in Argentina (Bunge & Born Group), for the European Union in Bolivia and in agriculture research in France (CIRAD). Laurent Msellati has also collaborated extensively with the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and OIE (World Organization of Animal Health). He served as the editor for a “special issue” of the Scientific and Technical Review of OIE on “Good Governance and Financing of Efficient Veterinary Services” (August 2012).