The Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy (CPIP) will welcome World Bank Chief Economist Indermit Gill at a Washington, D.C. event that will lay out a roadmap for infrastructure reconstruction in Ukraine.
Gill will speak at the April 6 event at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). The gathering of infrastructure thought leaders is organized by CPIP, part of the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, in partnership with AEI and with support from the U.S./Ukraine Business Council (USUBC).
Gill and a panel of experts will discuss ways to rebuild Ukraine's infrastructure. CPIP Director Rick Geddes, an economist, a member of Cornell's Department of Economics, and a professor in the Brooks School, will moderate the discussion.
Ukraine's infrastructure damage is enormous and mounting. The World Bank estimates the cost to rebuild Ukraine after the war is $411 billion, including $135 billion to repair direct damage to buildings and infrastructure to date. The estimate covers the one-year period from Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, to the first anniversary of the war on February 24, 2023. The cost of reconstruction and recovery is expected to stretch over 10 years and combines both needs for public and private funds.
CPIP is uniquely positioned to assist in the rebuilding effort. Now in its eleventh year, CPIP is home to interdisciplinary research, public outreach, and academic programs to train the next generation of infrastructure policy leaders. It is a member of the USUBC and is consulting with Ukrainian government, academic and business leaders about reconstruction strategies.
Gill is Chief Economist of the World Bank Group and Senior Vice President for Development Economics.
He formerly served as the World Bank's Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance, and Institutions, where he played a key role in shaping the Bank's response to the extraordinary series of shocks that have hit developing economies since 2020. Between 2016 and 2021, Gill was a professor of public policy at Duke University and non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Global Economy and Development program.
