TheWorld Bank inThailand Development in Partnership the World Bank's activities in Thailand and February 2009 o t h e r n e w s r e l a t e d t o d e v e l o p m e n t 47892 NEW WORLD BANK COUNTRY DIRECTOR FORTHAILAND Annette Dixon Has Extensive Experience in Public Service BANGKOK ­ The World Bank's East Asia and Pacific Region Vice Presidency has appointed Annette Dixon as the new World Bank Country Director for Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, and Thailand. Ms. Dixon replaced Ian C. Porter, who retired from the World Bank last year after 30 years of service. Her priorities will include assisting low-income countries to sustain growth and continue reducing poverty, expanding the World Bank's knowledge services for MalaysiaandThailand,andsupportingregionalcooperationthrough the World Bank's development program for the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). Before taking up her new position as the Country Director for Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, andThailand in December, Ms. Dixon was the World Bank Country Director for Central Asia, responsible for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. "In some respects, Central Asia is the "other Asia", unknown to many in the rest of Asia because for many years it was part of the Soviet Union," she said. "However, I think that there is a lot that countries in East Asia and Pacific can learn from Central Asia, and vice versa. As is Annette Dixon during a recent workshop with government officials in Chiang Mai province Southeast Asia, Central Asia is very diverse, and shares a rich cultural heritage and many natural resource assets." Ms.DixonjoinedtheWorldBankin1999asamid-career professional, having previously worked as a senior civil servant and in non-governmental organizations in her native country, New Zealand. During her time in government, she has served as the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Youth Affairs, the General Manager for Sector Policy at the Ministry of Health, as well as an advisor in the Department of the Prime Minister. The four countries Ms. Dixon is to supervise is part of the World Bank's East Asia and Pacific Region, known in short as EAP. "Itisaverydynamicandvibrantregion," Ms. Dixon noted. "However, there is also a range of development Her predecessor, former Country Director Ian Porter challenges still ahead, particularly as the effects of the global crisis are beginning to impact here in Southeast Continue on page 2 Page Continued from page Asia," she added. "In my new position, I hope to be able Policy and Management from the GeorgeWashington tofacilitatemorecross-countrylearning,andtoincrease University in Washington, DC. the connections across the Mekong Sub-Region, as well as with the rest of Asia." She and her husband are the proud grandparents of three grandchildren, aged five, three and five months. Ms. Dixon holds a Masters of Public Policy in Politics, She enjoys travel, swimming and reading, and hope Economics, and Law from Victoria University in New during her time in Southeast Asia to try her hand at Zealand, and has completed a Fellowship on Health golf and scuba diving. RETHINKINGGROWTHAND DEVELOPMENT NewWorld Bank Report Says DevelopmentCan Be More Inclusive, ThoughGrowth Still Imbalanced BANGKOK ­ Instead of trying to promote balanced growth and plan where economic activity should be located, governments should instead encourage mobility toward the areas of economic density by improving infrastructure and reducing transportation as well as transaction costs. This way, development will be more inclusive, although growth may remain imbalanced. This was the key message of the "WorldDevelopment Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography" (WDR 2009). The report was introduced to Thailand on January 16, 2009 by lead author, IndermitGill, and Government should encourage more mobility toward areas of two co-authors, Chorching Goh and Yukon Huang. economic density, the WDR 2009 argues Mr. Gill is the Chief Economist of the World Bank's Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. Ms. Goh is a The experience of successful developers shows that senior economist, also for ECA. Mr. Huang, now a production becomes more concentrated spatially. consultant, is a former country director for the World The most successful nations also institute policies Bank in China and Russia. that make basic living standards more uniform across Thisnewideaisnotwithoutcontroversy.Itrunsdirectly space.Economicproductionconcentrates,whileliving against the old policy prescription that economic standards converge. growth must be made more spatially balanced. "You have to think separately between the geography of In the past, policy-makers believed that the growth of economic activity and the geography of social welfare," cities must be controlled; rural-urban gaps in wealth Mr. Gill said. must be reduced quickly; lagging areas and provinces "Thecommonmistakewemadewhenlookingatregional distant from domestic; and world markets must be economic development is that we focus narrowly on the sustained through territorial development programs places that are not doing well, and end up directing a thatbringjobstothepeoplelivingthere.Commonwas lot of incentives for people or firms to relocate to or stay the notion that growing gaps between the developed in these places," he added. and developing world must be addressed through interventions to protect enterprises in developing "But the key is economic integration. If you start to look countries until they are ready to compete. at the interactions between the places that are lagging and the places that are doing well, you'll start to think Economic growth, however, is seldom balanced, more broadly about what government can do" to make argues the WDR 2009. Two centuries of economic development more inclusive. development show that spatial disparities in income and production are inevitable. But how can governments encourage economic integration without creating more disparities? The Page 2 WDR 2009 suggests that policy makers invest in activities that produce the highest economic and social returns nationally. In leading areas, emphasize investment in places - durable investments that increase national economic growth. In lagging areas, emphasize investment in people - portable investments that stimulate mobility and accelerate poverty reduction. "Growth tends to be imbalanced," said Mr. Gill. "But if you can manage domestic economic integration, and manage the spill-over effects of economic activity as well as labor migration, you will be able to reduce disparities, although it may take a while." For the past three decades, the WDR has provided a wide international readership with an extraordinary window on development economics. The report is published annually in the fall. IndermitGill,leadauthoroftheWDR2009, during the January 16 seminar in Bangkok Each year, the report provides in depth analysis of a specific aspect of to introduce the report development. Recent WDR topics include Agriculture for Development (WDR 2008), Development and the Next Generation (WDR 2007). The next WDR is on Development and the Changing Climate. WHATWENTON JANUARY Much of public investments have been pouring into initiativestomakeBangkokgreenerandintoimproving traffic conditions through mass transit projects. Both couldcertainlymakeBangkokabetterplacetoliveand work for millions of people. Little attention, however, has been paid to this city's walkability. An evening event at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) helped to bring Bangkok residents together to start the discussion on this subject. ResultsofaWorldBanksurveyonBangkok'swalkability in 2008 showed that many areas are not pedestrian- friendly,orwalkable.Thesurveyratedwalkabilitybased According to JitendraShah, theWorld Bank's Country on convenience, safety, and security. Sector Coordinator for Sustainable Development in The results showed that seven areas are above Thailand, pedestrian infrastructure, amenities, and average: On Nut, Bangpakok, Siriraj, Aree, Bangkapi, services are often neglected in municipal planning Pahon Yothin-Kaset and Ramkhamhaeng. It also and budgets in many developing countries. This showed that areas that are below average include has many negative consequences, the most notable Yaowarat (Chinatown), Hua Mak, Samray, Chatuchak, beingunnecessaryfatalitiesandinjuries.Somestudies Ratchadaphisek, Pathumwan and Wat Tha Phra-Bang showed that pedestrians represent more than half of Khun Si in Thonburi district. all fatalities in developing countries. The survey was completed in June 2008 by more Walkability also has economic and social implications, than 80 members of the World Bank Youth Club, who since people who walk the most and will suffer from collected field data and interviewed pedestrians. The poor walkability are the poor who cannot afford any teams divided Bangkok into 26 square areas totaling bus fare, or have to combine walking with public 416 square kilometers, with each square area divided transport to save money, said Zhi Liu, the Bank's into 16 cells. Before conducting the surveys, they Country Sector Coordinator for Infrastructure and a received training by World Bank staff. transport economist. Continued on page 4 Page Continud from page TheFCCTeventwasdesignedtoraisepublicawarenessofwalkabilityasadevelopmentissue.Thepaneldiscussion featured Messrs. Shah and Liu, who was joined by former Bangkok Governor Bhichit Rattakul, now executive director of the Asia Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC). AWorld Bank Advisor for Policy and Strategy in Health, NutritionandPopulation,Dr.ArminFidler,conducted a seminar on"Impacts of Economic Crises on Health Outcomes and Health Financing" at the World Bank Office in Bangkok. The seminar discussed the impacts on public health from rising unemployment, the reduction of foreign investment flows, shrinking government revenues, and a sharp drop in demands for developing countries' exports during the global slowdown. Despite several priorities competing for policy-makers' attention during difficult times, the World Bank emphasized the need to sustain health expenditurestopreventdeterioratingpublichealth,whichcouldhaveanegativeimpactonfuturedevelopment once the national economy has recovered from the crisis. Readers can download his presentation and related documents at www.worldbank.or.th The World Bank Youth Club organized the "Race for Better Life" 5K run at Lumpini Park to raise awarenessoftheimportanceofhealthylifestyleamong youth, promoting a key message from the World Development Report 2007: Development and the NextGeneration.Morethan200youngpeople,aswell as health-conscious adults, joined the race. Corporate sponsorship from Lactasoy, Phya Thai Hospital, Thai Health Promotion Foundation, CP Feedmill, and S&P helped made this event a great success. FEBRUARY TheWorldBankjoinedtheDepartmentofMarineand Coastal Resources (DMCR), EarthSave Foundation, and Central World shopping complex, to organize a three-day exhibition, Save the Sea, to draw public attention to the loss and degradation of Thailand's valuable marine and coastal resources. During the exhibition, a ceremony was also held to award cash prizes, trophies and certificates to winners of the competition for comic book on coastal erosion, co-organized by the Bank and the DMCR in 2008. Both the exhibition and the comic book were part of the coordinated effort to raise public awareness of the issue,whichcostsThailandtoloseatleast1.5kilometers oflandandeconomicdamagesofapproximately$150 million annually. Page 4