Key Skills & Expertise

International development and public policy law; judicial reform; legal instrument design for lending operations; adviser on legal architecture for the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB); Special Economic Zone (SEZ) advisory; Governance and Anti-Corruption (GAC) compliance; risk management; dispute resolution; and stakeholder relations and leadership. Mr. Al Habsy holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in International/Corporate Law from Harvard Law School and is fluent in English and Arabic.

Operational Advice, Project Design, Management & Implementation

Over 26 years with the World Bank, Mr. Al Habsy advanced from Senior Counsel (1984–2000) to Chief Legal Counsel (2001–2006) to Operations Adviser (2006–2011). As Senior Counsel, he drafted and negotiated loan agreements, project agreements, guarantee agreements, and memoranda of understanding between the Bank and borrowing countries across multiple sectors, and prepared legal opinions guiding management and project teams. As Chief Legal Counsel for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Africa, and South Asia regions, he directed the drafting and review of international agreements, advised project teams designing and supervising complex operations in power, telecoms, infrastructure, agriculture, industry, finance, health, education, and climate change, and led the legal and policy advisory role to senior management on the Bank's resumption of lending to Iraq and Afghanistan. As Operations Adviser, he led on business simplification, portfolio restructuring, donor harmonization, trust funds, new lending-instrument design, and risk management, and led a team and office of approximately 100 employees in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Monitoring & Evaluation

Performed major analytical work on operational policies and processes relating to World Bank lending, supervision, and portfolio management, with recommendations to senior management; coordinated Quality Practice Groups across the Bank; and designed and implemented the Learning Program on World Bank operational policies, instruments, and innovations.

Fragility, Conflict, and Violence (FCV) Country Experience

Mr. Al Habsy led the legal and policy advisory role to World Bank senior management on the resumption-of-lending to Iraq and Afghanistan, both currently World Bank-designated FCV countries, and advised project teams on the design, implementation, and supervision of operations in difficult, fragile, and post-conflict countries more broadly.

Trust Funds

As Operations Adviser, led strategic priorities including trust fund structuring alongside business simplification, portfolio restructuring, and donor harmonization for World Bank-financed operations.

Relationships with Donors & International Organizations

Represented World Bank management in operational policy discussions with cooperating units across the institution; post-retirement, serves as Legal Advisor to Oman's Special Economic Zone Authority for Duqm (SEZAD), advising the Board and management on financing, construction, and regulatory matters for a new multipurpose port, airport, dry dock, refinery, petrochemical complex, and associated infrastructure, experience that directly complements the Bank's current private capital mobilization and guarantee platform priorities.

Sectoral Experience

Power, telecoms, infrastructure, agriculture, industry, finance, health, education, climate change, judicial reform, banking regulation, and Special Economic Zone/private investment facilitation.

Countries Worked In

Iraq and Afghanistan (resumption-of-lending advisory); Pakistan (led the Islamabad regional office); Oman (Central Bank of Oman, and post-retirement SEZAD advisory); and operations across the MENA, Africa, and South Asia regions during his tenure as Chief Legal Counsel.

Academic & Teaching Experience

LLM, International/Corporate Law, Harvard Law School; graduate, Executive Leadership Program, Harvard Business School; graduate, Central Banking Program, Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and completed various World Bank Leadership Training Programs. Author, “Sustaining Development and Peace: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), International, Institutional and Legal Perspectives”; Speaker, Conference on Judicial Administration Modernization in the Arab States, and the Arab Judicial Forum. Prior to the World Bank, spent eight years as a Manager at the Central Bank of Oman, including as Secretary to its Board of Governors.