48977 MIDDLEEASTANDNORTHAFRICA JUNE, 2009 GOVERNANCENEWS&NOTES VOLUME 3,ISSUE 2 A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER IN THIS ISSUE: ne of the most important functions government can play is helping to A Note from the foster an enabling environment for private sector led growth. In a region Publisher........................ 1 characterized by relatively high levels of unemployment, young and growing populations, and public sectors that are among the largest in the Governance Newsmaker world, traditional strategies of relying upon civil service jobs to soak up Interview with Dr. Nasser excess labor have more or less reached their limits. Many governments Saidi..............................2 throughout the Middle East and North Africa region are already over- burdened by bloated bureaucracies and excessive wage bills. Future job From Privilege to creation will need to come from the private sector. Competition: Unlocking Private-Led Growth in the At one level, the elements for a successful approach to private sector led Middle East and North growth are obvious. A stable macroeconomic framework. Minimal Africa.....................5 barriers to firm entry and exit. The ability to gain access to land and public services quickly and easily. A manageable and non-intrusive Doing Business Reforms in inspection regime that effectively looks after the public good without the Arab World...............8 placing an onerous compliance burden upon firms. The ability to rely upon a rapid, equitable and predictable legal system in enforcing Upcoming Events and contracts. Other components are more indirect but every bit as vital, such Activities........................10 as an educated, healthy populace with skills that the market values. Noteworthy Unfortunately, all too often the region has fallen short in achieving these Links..................................10 prerequisites. The Bank's most recent flagship report, From Privilege to Competition: Unlocking Private-Led Growth in the Middle East and North Africa, underscores the pernicious role played by barriers to firm entry and the absence of sound competition in many MENA countries. Some of these problems are due to government policies; others are due to the discriminatory way in which these policies are enforced. With the possible exception of Dubai, no MENA countries have managed to replicate the economic dynamism that has characterized East Asia's rapid growth. While avoiding pat or formulaic answers, the Bank's flagship report highlights a number of measures that will be essential to rapid and sustainable private sector growth. Governments need to reduce opportunities for monopolistic rent-seeking and foster increased competition. They need to enhance transparency and build the type of institutions that will allow a market economy to flourish. Finally, they need to mobilize key stakeholders around a long-term growth strategy. GOVERNANCE NEWS & NOTES Page 2 VOL.3,ISSUE 2 In this issue, we also feature an interview with control. Five years later, and in the wake of the Nasser Saidi, who has recently founded the global financial crisis, he feels that corporate Hawkamah Institute in Dubai to advance the cause of governance ethics and systems are spreading steadily corporate governance. His reflections on the role of because governments, private companies and corporate governance and the challenges of shareholders sense a "win-win" opportunity -- and achieving it throughout the MENA region are both perhaps also a route to reducing waste due to interesting and informative. They are a pivotal part corruption or mismanagement. of the broader effort to foster a dynamic, responsible and competitive private sector. Saidi, a Lebanese national, left the Central Bank and joined the Lebanese Transparency Association Finally, in this issue we discuss the World Bank's (LTA) in 2004 when the LTA was just starting to Doing Business indicators. These annual indicators, talk about corporate governance. That year, he and which cover 10 general categories and a variety of some colleagues set up the Corporate Governance sub-indicators ranging from access to land and Task Force to bring together public and private permits to the efficiency of the court system are an sector parties that were serious about the matter. This increasingly important tool in judging the coincided with an initiative by the OECD in 2003-04 effectiveness of the policies and institutions to promote foreign investment in the MENA region. supporting the private sector. In capitals throughout Corporate governance was the focus of one of five MENA, policy makers are using them as a regional task forces established by the OECD and mechanism for evaluating and benchmarking their Arab governments; Hawkamah emerged from that performance. process, under the aegis of the Dubai International Financial Center. Robert P. Beschel Jr. Lead Public Sector Specialist Saidi said in an interview recently that their work MENA Vice Presidency, World Bank since 2004 has clarified five essential elements that are needed to institute effective corporate governance standards and mechanisms in the Arab world: a GOVERNANCE NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW "champion" institution in every country, a WITH DR. NASSER SAIDI, EXECUTIVE framework of laws and regulations, an effective DIRECTOR, HAWKAMAH INSTITUTE FOR enforcement system, a comprehensive approach that CORPORATE GOVERNANCE touches all corporate sectors, and buy-ins by local partners and beneficiaries. BY RAMI G. KHOURI "Fundamentally, governance in general and Corporate governance takes root slowly in the corporate governance in particular has to be a joint Arab region effort between the private sector and the public sector, he said. Therefore you need an DUBAI: When organizational tool that can allow the interaction he established between the private and public sectors. This is the Hawkamah- critical because corporate governance is directly Institute for about business, and economic activity in particular, Corporate but necessarily it requires a framework to be put in Governance in place -- laws, regulations, codes, guidelines -- that Dubai in 2004, need the public sector's and the government's Dr. Nasser involvement." Saidi knew he faced an uphill struggle to spread new standards of The Hawkamah Institute defines corporate accountability and transparency in Arab corporate governance as the system by which companies are board rooms long known for personal or family directed and controlled. Saidi notes that in its GOVERNANCE NEWS & NOTES Page 3 VOL.3,ISSUE 2 narrow sense, corporate governance is a source of the insurance sector, state-owned enterprises, and -- shareholder value. Good corporate governance leads very important in our region -- for family owned to better company performance, higher profitability businesses. The last category that we feel is very and efficiency levels. In its wider sense, the important is the media, in terms of the role of the definition takes into account all the company's media as a tool for disseminating better standards, to stakeholders and corporate social responsibility. act as a whistleblower and a watchdog." One lesson learned is that corporate governance is One manifestation of this was Hawkamah's recent both universal and local, reflecting standards that launching of a journalism and corporate governance apply in all countries but also take into account local course in the Gulf, the Levant countries, and North specificitie Africa, to s. train both editors and It cannot senior be an writers to island or cover isolated. corporate You must govern- have a ance framework issues. which is comprehen Saidi sive in believes scope. You that have to Hawkama adopt h's basic achieveme minimum nts to date standards are mainly that should in the apply in all realm of countries, raising to all companies, and that ensure the rights of awareness and launching mechanisms to promote shareholders, that protect minority shareholders and better corporate governance, while acknowledging foreign shareholders, that include transparency in that effective corporate governance systems require disclosure standards, that have a separation between at least 5-7 years to take hold. His major the board and the management of the company, that achievements to date are: "Number one, we launched ensure that the board itself is composed of qualified a debate, so now corporate governance is on the members who are independent of the company." policy agenda, involving the ministry of finance, the central bank, and the ministry of economy. Second, The required enforcement mechanism typically the business organi-zations, in particular the banking happens in two ways: in the form of a law, or sector, the chambers of commerce and business through market forces, though often you can have associations, are heavily involved in corporate guidelines with market enforcement, mixing the two governance, and see its importance. Third, in terms approaches, Saidi said. of actual implementation, we wrote a code of ethics Corporate governance systems must touch all sectors which we published and which can be used as a in order to be effective, he stresses. "The objective is template for other countries in the region." that we need to look at corporate governance for The code of ethics is voluntary, but he suggests that listed companies, for banks and financial institutions, companies that abide by it could advertise and GOVERNANCE NEWS & NOTES Page 4 VOL.3,ISSUE 2 mention the fact, and in time would attract clients that the financial sector is regulated by the Central who prefer to work with well managed, transparent Bank, and public companies are regulated by the companies. A separate code of ethics was developed stock market. Where lines of authority, supervision for family-owned enterprises and small and medium and regulation are clear, Saidi said, corporate enterprises (SMEs), which account for over 80% of governance standards can be introduced companies in most Arab countries. systematically. "The types of standards you can impose on SMEs are A critical element for success in his experience is to not the same as you would impose for listed ensure that the local authorities and corporate sector companies, banks, or state-owned enterprises. So you buy into the process, and not only pay it lip service. have to develop something that is appropriate for This is why a local champion is so important to start their requirements and which is also not too costly to the process. implement. We got feedback on the proposed code from international institutions, including the World "It is one thing to draft a law or publish a code, but if Bank, which allowed us to compare what we issued people don't buy in you won't achieve the purpose. as a code with what other countries have. We were The whole point is to work with the countries, the pleased to be able to innovate a code particular to agencies of the region, the central bank, ministries, SMEs in our region, but also consistent with capital market authorities, and regulatory authorities, international standards." to help them develop codes and guidelines adapted to their circumstances, and help plan the enforcement of One of the first things Hawkamah did (with IFC) was those codes and guidelines." a pioneering survey of 400 CEOs, to find out how well this concept was understood in the region. "A lot of people looked at corporate governance as something of a luxury that one should worry about after addressing other things, and I understand their concerns. What this revealed was a lack of Once public agencies adopt the concept, Hawkamah understanding of what is meant by corporate suggests a two-step approach. "The first step is to governance. The survey we did with the IFC asked improve corporate governance at the level of banks CEOs to rank corporate governance and say how and financial institutions. Second, issue guidelines so important it was to them. Up to 60% said it was that if the corporate clients of the banks abide by important or very important; however, when asked to those guidelines, they are considered good credit define corporate governance, less than 40% could risks, and therefore the capital adequacy actually define the concept. A lot of people talked requirements you have to impose on them are less. about good management, so there is a big gap in For the banks this means they have the incentives to understanding governance in general, and corporate seek out companies which are well-governed, governance in particular, and its implications for because the amount of risk capital they have to businesses. Certainly that is true at the official level allocate for those is less. For the companies also." themselves, there's an incentive also because if they enjoy a better credit rating they also benefit from Saidi believes that corporate governance mechanisms lower interest rates and longer credit terms, so it's a are best introduced into a country through a win-win situation. This type of cascading approach is "cascading approach", starting with the stock market, what we are advocating with central banks, which specifically with listed banks and financial can issue a code for the banks and follow that up institutions, then moving on to other companies. This with regulations for corporate clients." approach guarantees that an effective "champion" -- such as the Central Bank or stock exchange -- will Corporate governance codes are mandatory in some promote the corporate governance concept, given countries and voluntary in others, but the trend is GOVERNANCE NEWS & NOTES Page 5 VOL.3,ISSUE 2 towards mandatory ones. Codes have already been sparked in part by low standards of corporate issued in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and governance. Saudi Arabia. Another recent Hawkamah study showed that Progress is not always smooth or easy, due to two transparency and disclosure levels among companies kinds of resistance Hawkamah has encountered. First in the Gulf are increasing, according to rankings of is the lack of understanding at the policy level in the Behavioral Assessment Score for Investors and many cases, which requires a significant education Corporations (BASIC) that ranks firms on the basis process. Second is the reluctance by some of liquidity, transparency and volatility. It was corporations to undertake a veritable revolution in developed by the partnership of Hawkamah and The how firms are managed, in terms of board members, National Investor. non-executive directors, resolving conflicts-of- interest, family control, or cases where companies FROM PRIVILEGE TO COMPETITION: have captured the regulator in charge of them. UNLOCKING PRIVATE-LED GROWTH IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA His experience in Lebanon reminds Saidi that corporate governance also has implications for BY ANDREW H. W. STONE AND NAJY public sector operations, especially where large state- BENHASSINE owned enterprises handle major sums of money. Good corporate governance practices are one way to The route to sustained reduce corruption and bribery, especially in large- private-led growth and scale schemes of nation-building and reconstruction. job creation in MENA requires improving the True corporate governance is complex, because you credibility of reforms, have to change the entire culture. The issues of the effectiveness of accountability are critical, and getting better policies and their accountability in the corporate sector will help equitable enforcement. improve accountability in the public sector. When This is the central we talk about corporate governance, people also message of the understand that policy-makers need to get involved. forthcoming World This is a major achievement and it has opened the Bank Flagship Report door to a healthy debate across the region, from for MENA, From Privilege to Competition: Lebanon and Syria, to Morocco, Libya and Egypt, Unlocking Private-Led Growth in the Middle East and the GCC countries and Yemen. and North Africa. Hawkamah's most recent efforts include a working Barriers to firm entry and to sound competition-- group and task force for state-owned enterprises, some due to government policies, and others to the starting with a survey of the governance of state- discriminatory way in which rules are implemented owned enterprises and their challenges and problems, and enforced--have restrained the emergence of a to be followed up with a policy brief with dynamic private sector in the region. The flagship recommendations on the policy level. The same steps shows that the recent increase in growth and private were followed for the banking and insurance sectors. sector activity has not been accompanied with a The insurance sector task force was formed with the commensurate improvement in indicators of Arab Forum of Insurance Regulatory Commissions, sustainable high levels of growth. Gauged by the in conjunction with the Financial Services Volunteer diversification of exports, their technological Corps. They issued their report in March 2009, sophistication, the level and sectoral composition of which concluded that insurance companies have private investment, or the productivity and varied strengths and face significant challenges, innovation of firms, no MENA country exhibits the especially in the current global crisis ­ which was kind of dynamism and economic transformation GOVERNANCE NEWS & NOTES Page 6 VOL.3,ISSUE 2 witnessed in Private investment response to structural reform episodes also require Malaysia, China, institutional the Republic of 20 Latin America reforms. Korea, Poland, South Asia Already, a new Turkey, and other 15 East Asia generation of fast-growing MENA entrepreneurs is economies. While progress with reforming the )PDG%(tnemtsevnietavirP10 emerging in MENA in 5 response to past reforms, and rules varies 0 their ability to between countries, t-15 t-10 t-5 Reform t+5 t+10 influence the the region as a 5-year time intervals. future direction whole suffers from reform discretionary and Figure 1 of towards arbitrary implementation of policies, and from lack competitiveness and growth will be crucial. The of government credibility to really change a deeply private sector reform agenda has increasingly rooted status quo of privileges and unequal treatment focused on better governance of market institutions, of investors. For many countries, the problem is not and focused less on mere retrenchment of the State with insufficient or missing reforms, but rather with from asset ownership. In that context, the political their quality and the widespread belief that the economy legacy that is prevailing throughout the business environment as it appears onthe books is region constitutes a handicap to the transformation of not applied equally to all. Consequently, the region MENA States. enjoys less competition than elsewhere. The dynamism of entry of new firms and exit of The flagship report does not offer a standard recipe inefficient businesses is weaker than in Asia, Latin of reforms that would generate diversification and America, or Eastern Europe; and firms are on sustained growth in every country of the region; such average older than elsewhere--as are formal a recipe does not exist. Lessons from past successes business owners. The response of private investment and disappointments with standard reform packages to past reforms has been weaker than in other regions call for some humility in a search for the keys to (figure 1)--a sign that investors do not fully trust strong, sustained growth. Today this search is even that seemingly pro-business policies will be applied more challenging as short-term global economic to them equally. prospects are grim. Instead, the report focuses on three aspects of policy making that combine to affect Governments' commitment to address key barriers to investors' expectations: the rules, how they're entry and competition and to level the playing field applied, and the credibility of government for all investors will be essential to convince more commitment to reforms. entrepreneurs to take the risk to enter markets, innovate and create jobs. Credibility with bureaucrats A three part strategy is proposed. is needed to assure implementation of policy reforms after they are enacted. Credibility with investors, First, reduce the opportunities for rent-seeking bureaucrats and the broader public will be earned and foster competition. With the proper regulatory only if political leaders commit to dismantling the environment, governments can encourage entry in all rent allocation channels that weaken the regulatory sectors of the economy by removing formal and and administrative functions of the State in all areas informal barriers to competition. This is a of the business environment. prerequisite for reducing rent-seeking and fostering the emergence of a more diversified private sector Engaging in a reform agenda that signals a credible that will, in turn, create pressure for more pro-growth commitment to reduce discretion will require a reforms. change in the way policymaking is conducted. It will GOVERNANCE NEWS & NOTES Page 7 VOL.3,ISSUE 2 Beyond this, the mix of policies that will Third, mobilize key stakeholders carry the greatest credibility in the eyes of around a dedicated long term investors depends on each country--but "Why a seminar growth strategy. A new form of where to start is often known by local on the partnership is needed between the stakeholders. In some countries of the government and the main stakeholders. region, a necessary starting point to signal knowledge-based These partnerships can underpin that change is real will be to dismantle the economy? Our stronger reform alliances and broader conflicts of interest between political economy is participation in designing, leaders and private business. In others, it totally based on implementing, and evaluating policies. will be to open the banking sector to more "knowledge". To Mobilizing and uniting forces inside competition and reduce the dominance of do anything in and outside governments around a State-owned banks. In almost all our country, you credible long- term growth strategy, countries, it will mean reducing have to know supported by strong political opportunities for rent-seeking in public leadership, has been a characteristic of land markets, or opening sectors that someone". all countries that have sustained high remain closed to (foreign or domestic) growth rates over long periods of time. competition. Participant at a high- level seminar on the Concretely, this requires four pre- requisites: Second, reform institutions. Private Knowledge-Economy in the MENA Region 1. Freedom for the private sector sector development policies will need to (2008) to organize in independent be systematically anchored in elements of organizations, to raise funding public sector and institutional reforms to from members, to obtain reduce discretion and opacity, and improve the economic and policy information, to voice quality of services provided to firms--hence criticisms of public policies to the public at reducing transaction costs. This agenda entails: large, and to inform open policy debates. 1. Building strong rule-bound market Such freedoms are not granted by law or in institutions to which substantial decision practice in much of MENA. making power over economic outcomes is 2. Capable and inclusive business associations. delegated. The objective is to credibly shield Most independent business associations in the public officials of all market institutions MENA countries are either small - lacking from political and personal interference. advocacy or organizational capacity, or are Improving the investment climate in MENA captured by a few prominent members. comes down in great part to putting in place 3. An institutionalized, transparent and such institutions. inclusive process for private sector 2. Increasing transparency and accountability consultation in the identification of policy of all public bodies that interact with the issues, the design of reforms and the private sector and regulate markets. This monitoring and evaluation of their should be done by creating systems of implementation. independent measurement of the quality of 4. Greater availability of and freedom of service to the private sector and instilling a information relevant to economic policy, culture of accountability. administrative performance and markets, to 3. Ensuring equity in market governance and allow stakeholders to hold government therefore reducing de jure and de facto accountable, to participate in dialogue, and barriers to competition. This entails easing to reduce uncertainty. entry, exit and transaction costs for firms in all sectors, and thus reducing the Short of such a fundamental shift in the way private opportunities for discretionary behavior in sector policies are formulated and implemented, public institutions ­ something that investor expectations that governments are contributes to the unlevel playing field in committed to reform will be limited. It will take MENA. political will--and time--to support sustained GOVERNANCE NEWS & NOTES Page 8 VOL.3,ISSUE 2 reforms that credibly address the real issues holding environment of 20 Arab economies within the back the region, and convince investors and the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. public that changes are real, deep, and set to last. The report finds that the Arab world's economies are While a longer-term growth challenge, this making it easier for small- to medium-size fundamental policy change will also affect the short- enterprises to do business. Many governments have term ability of policy makers to respond to the taken action to create a better regulatory economic downturn and seize on the opportunities environment. Worldwide, 113 economies-- that the global economic recovery will offer. MENA including 20 in the Arab World-- implemented 239 countries are endowed with strong human capital, reforms making it easier to do business between June good infrastructure, immense resources for some, 2007 and June 2008--the most reforms recorded in a and a lot of creativity and entrepreneurship single year since the Doing Business project started everywhere. The economic and social payoff of six years ago. In the past year reformers focused on embarking on a more ambitious private-led growth easing business start-up, lightening tax burdens, agenda could thus be immense--for all. simplifying import and export regulations and improving credit information systems. DOING BUSINESS REFORMS IN THE ARAB Across regions, the Middle East and North Africa WORLD (MENA) continued its upward trend with 13 Arab economies introducing an impressive 31 reforms -- BY DAHLIA KHALIFA 29 of which made it easier to do business while 2 In November 2009, the Doing Business launched a made it harder reforms-- in two-thirds of the region's report on Doing Business in the Arab World 2009. economies, moving from the third fastest reforming The report examines the business regulatory region last year to the second fastest reforming The Doing Business Report provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 181 economies and selected cities at the sub national and regional level. The report provides a quantitative measure of regulations for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business--as they apply to domestic small and medium-size enterprises. The Doing Business data are based on domestic laws and regulations as well as administrative requirements. The rankings cover the period April 2007 to June 2008 GOVERNANCE NEWS & NOTES Page 9 VOL.3,ISSUE 2 region this year (June 2007 to June 2008). across borders. Four Arab countries reformed in this area: Djibouti, Egypt, Morocco and Syria. The most dramatic regulatory reforms in the Arab World made it easier to start a business by reducing In all 3 areas, administrative reforms increased the time, number of procedures and costs associated efficiency and transparency. Reforms in other areas with start-ups. Doing Business also analyzed reform can require longer term efforts, particularly if they trends over the past 5 years.* Once again, starting a require legal changes or involve difficult political business is the top area of reform in the Arab World tradeoffs. for the 5 year period tracked, with reforms seen in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Oman, Saudi The report also finds that barriers to business remain Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, West Bank and Gaza and in some areas. Within the Arab economies, there Yemen. were no reforms related to enforcing contracts, employing workers or in getting credit (legal rights). In a region once known for prohibitive entry barriers, Initial results show that reforms lead to change on from June 2007 to June 2008, 10 of the 20 Arab the ground. Six months after Egypt reformed its economies examined simplified their start-up property registry, title registrations increased and procedures and reduced costs. Two Arab countries-- related revenue rose by 39 percent. Commercial Tunisia and Yemen--eliminated the minimum registrations in Oman increased by 93 percent over capital requirement for starting a business; while the past year after Oman implemented a one-stop Jordan reduced it by more than 96%.Yemen also shop for business start-ups. In Saudi Arabia, launched a one-stop shop to make it easier to start a reducing minimum capital requirements led to an 81 business. The report finds: "Yemen's move is one of percent increase in new company registrations. the boldest reforms this year as its minimum capital requirement was among the highest in the world." Doing Business in the Arab Syria was the second biggest reformer in business World 2009 includes 20 Arab start-up in the region. Syria issued a new company economies: Algeria, Bahrain, law and commercial code that took registration out Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, of the court, introduced statutory time limits and Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, made using lawyers optional. But along with these Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi reforms, Syria also made starting a business more Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, difficult: a 33% increase in its minimum paid-in United Arab Emirates, West Bank and Gaza and Yemen. capital requirement. Lebanon and Oman improved the efficiency of their one-stop shops for business The report is co-sponsored by the Arab Monetary Fund, start-up. The procedures that used to take 46 days in World Bank, IFC. It was launched on Nov. 10, 2008, in Lebanon now take 11. Abu Dhabi at a conference hosted by the Arab Monetary Fund with the objective of examining the business Egypt was a top global reformer in 2007/08. environment in the Arab World. Following on the previous reforms, Egypt further *Doing Business began tracking reforms in 2004, but reduced registration costs and its minimum paid-in Bahrain and Qatar were first included in the Doing capital requirement. Saudi Arabia continued to Business database in 2008. simplify commercial registrations and reduced fees by 80%. Computerization of the registry in West Bank and Gaza reduced registration time. The second most popular reforms were in the area of getting credit information. Five Arab countries reformed in this area: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank and Gaza. The third most popular were reforms to ease trading GOVERNANCE NEWS & NOTES Page 10 VOL.3,ISSUE 2 UPCOMING EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES June 25-26, 2009: The Regional Workshop on May 25-27, 2009: Bahrain International "Supporting UNCAC Implementation: eGovernment Forum. Manama, Bahrain. This is Programming Entry Points and Approaches a unique opportunity to learn from eGovernment for the Arab Region." Gammarth, Tunisia. The regional workshop will be held with the practitioners and to investigate the GCC e- joint support of the UNDP's regional Government market. In partnership with the Programme on Governance in the Arab Region eGovernment Authority (EGA), Bahrain Information Technology Society (BITS), Bahrain Society of (POGAR), and the Democratic Governance Group (DGG) of the Bureau for Development Engineers (BSE) and Bahrain Internet Society (BIS). Policy (BDP), and in coordination with UNDP info@egovforum.bh and www.egovforum.bh Tunisia and the host government of the Republic of Tunisia. www.undp-pogar.org May 26-27, 2009: Symposium on Insolvency Laws and Creditor-Rights Systems. Abu Dhabi, UAE. Jointly undertaken by Hawkamah, the World Bank, INSOL International and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in NOTEWORTHY LINKS close collaboration and cooperation with authorities, World Bank MENA Governance Website: lawyers and legal professionals in the region. http://www.worldbank.org/mena/governance info@hawkamah.org and www.hawkamah.org World Bank General Governance Website: June 11-12, 2009: The Global Corporate http://www.worldbank.org/governance Responsibility Reporting Summit, Brussels, Belgium. This is a two-day conference for Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance senior corporate responsibility and sustainability http://www.hawkamah.org reporting executives. Speakers include senior The Doing Business Report Website: level representatives from organizations such as www.doingbusiness.org Banco, Transparency International and the Guardian newspaper. Ethical Corporation andrew.quildan@ethicalcorp.com and www.ethicalcorp.com www.ethicalcorp.com June 24, 2009: The Third Seminar for the To subscribe or to change your subscription status, Arab Governmental Expert Group on please contact: UNCAC Self Assessment. Gammarth, Tunisia. The regional workshop will provide an Ms. Lida Bteddini opportunity to introduce different ways of Social & Economic measuring corruption, provide an overview of Development Unit the new types of corruption assessment tools, Middle East & North Africa Vice Presidency discuss and gather inputs on the new UNCAC The World Bank Self Assessment Checklist, and highlight the 1818 H Street N.W Role of Country-Led Assessments in supporting Washington, D.C 20433 an evidence-based approach to anti-corruption +1 (202) 458-4937 reform. www.undp-pogar.org +1 (202) 477-0432 (fax) lbteddini@worldbank.org GOVERNANCE NEWSAND NOTES Page 11 VOL. 1,ISSUE 1 FOR FURTHER READING Ahmet Faruk Aysan, Mustapha K. Nabli, and Marie-Ange Veganzones-Varoudakis Governance and Private Investment in the Middle East and North Africa (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper #3934 June, 2006 Mustapha K. Nabli, Carlos Silva-Jauregui, and Ahmet Faruk Aysan. Authoritarianism, Reforms and Private Sector Development in the Middle East and North Africa (World Bank, MENA Region, June 2008). Roberto Zagha, Gobind T. Nankani Economic growth in the 1990s: learning from a decade of reform (World Bank, 2005) The Commission on Growth and Development (2008) Strategies for Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development", (www.growthcommission.org). World Bank. 2008 MENA Economic Developments and Prospects : Regional Integration for Global Competitiveness (World Bank MENA Region, 2008) World Bank. World Development Report 2005: A Better Investment Climate for Everyone (Washington: World Bank, 2004) World Bank. World Bank Flagship Report for MENA, From Privilege to Competition: Unlocking Private-Led Growth in the Middle East and North Africa (Washington: World Bank, 2009) Disclaimer: views expressed in this publication reflect those of their authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank Group, its Board or its management.