Juan Belt Email Address

Independent Consultant

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.

Juan A. B. Belt has held senior economist and manager positions at USAID, the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank. At USAID, he received the Administrator’s Distinguished Career Service Award, the Agency’s highest. The award read: “In recognition of serving the Agency with the highest distinction. Mr. Belt has led complex reform and reconstruction efforts responding to U.S. strategic priorities worldwide. He particularly deserves recognition for his ability to inspire host country leaders to pursue change. He is a diplomat in the very best sense of the term.” He has been involved in many activities designed to increase private participation in infrastructure in emerging markets. He played a key role in the liberalization and privatization of the power and telecommunications of several countries in Central America, including co-drafting the telecommunications privatization law of El Salvador. He directed a program to make the Central American countries ready for a free trade agreement with the US. At the IDB, he designed the first integrated ICT projects, a number of power projects and at USAID he promoted alliances with private firms to expand connectivity to rural areas under the “Last Mile Initiative”. He has designed over 30 power sector, telecommunications, agricultural, forestry, fishery, education and transport projects, and has taught cost-benefit analysis at universities in the US, Canada, and Latin America. In the past five years he has published papers on ICT, e-government, clean energy and different aspects of infrastructure in Cuba. His most recent publication is “The Electric Power Sector in Cuba: Ways to Increase Efficiency and Sustainability”, published as a chapter in a Brookings Institution Book (see “reading list”). He has participated in numerous war games and exercises with JFCOM, TRADOC, SOUTHCOM, SOCOM, US National Defense University (“War College”) and the US Army War College at Carlisle, Pa. Specialties: Economics, information and communications technology (ICT), private participation in infrastructure (power, telecommunications, transport, water), agriculture, Global Climate Change, nexus between defense, diplomacy and development ("soft power"), economic issues in Cuba, competitiveness, cost-benefit analysis