Mr Bliek graduated of the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands on Development Studies. Since then, he has been working for the past 20 years on business development services and microfinance, territorial competitiveness, inclusive local economic and sector development and entrepreneurship. Between 2001-2008, Mr Bliek worked in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua; and between 2008-2014 he coordinated an entrepreneurship promotion and microfinance programme in 12 countries. At the same time he was part of the Board of Directors of the European Microfinance Platform. In 2014 Mr Bliek first joined the ILO as Enterprise Specialist at its Moscow Office. He then moved to the ILO Office for the Andean Countries where he worked for 5 years prior to joining the ILO Caribbean Office in March 2022.