Information Report 75 / October 2008 A t t a r S o k a k, No. 4, 06700, G. O. P., Ankara – Turkey Tel.: (+90 312) 468 61 72 (4 lines) Fax: (+90 312) 468 57 26 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.sesric.org Information Report 75 / October 2008 ANKARA CENTRE UPDATE Expert Group Meeting on Enhancing Intra - OIC Trade The Experts Group Meeting (EGM) on commodities originating from member Enhancing Intra-OIC Trade was jointly countries. organized by the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Centre for The main highlights of the meeting were the Islamic Countries (SESRIC), the International Brainstorming Session in the second day in Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) of which all the participants involved in the the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the discussion and exchanged their views on the Union of Chambers and Commodity possible effective and efficient ways and Exchange (TOBB) of the Republic of Turkey means of enhancing intra-OIC trade with the and the Coordination Office of the Standing aim of preparing a Road Map on the subject, Committee for Economic and Commercial including specific recommendations, Cooperation (COMCEC) and held at the scenarios and modalities. campus of the Economy and Technology University (ETU) of the TOBB in Ankara on The final report, including the 5-6 July 2008. recommendations of the meeting will be submitted to and presented at the 24th Session The Meeting aimed at exploring ways and of the COMCEC, which will be held in means of facilitating the realization of the October 2008 in Istanbul, for consideration by target to achieve 20% of intra-OIC trade by the ministers of economy and trade of the the year 2015 as stipulated by the OIC Ten- OIC member countries. Year Programme of Action. Mr. Nabil Dabour, Senior Researcher at the A total of 35 experts from OIC member Centre, addressed the meeting at the opening countries, OIC institutions and OIC national session on behalf of Dr. Savas Alpay, trade promotion agencies and some regional Director General of the Centre, and made a and international organisations and academia presentation on “Facilitating Trade through participated in the meeting. OIC Multilateral Agreements on Economic and Commercial Cooperation and Potential The meeting discussed the following main Gains from these Agreements” during the first themes: trade financing, trade promotion, session of the meeting on the theme “Trade trade facilitation, trade capacity building and Facilitation”. promoting and developing strategic Regional Workshop on DevInfo The Regional Workshop on DevInfo took partnership with the United Nations place on 7 - 10 July 2008 in the UN House in Development Group (UNDG), United Nations Beirut, Republic of Lebanon. The workshop country offices and the Statistical, Economic was organized by the Economic and Social and Social Research and Training Centre for Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in Islamic Countries (SESRIC). Mr. Atilla 2 Information Report 75 / October 2008 Karaman, a Researcher, represented the most recent upgraded version of the software. SESRIC thereat and made a speech on behalf The workshop participants were of Dr. Savaş Alpay, Director General of representatives from the National Statistical SESRIC, in the opening ceremony. Offices and Ministries of Health of 13 OIC Member Countries. The participants had the The objective of the workshop was to train opportunity to see the new features and tools the participants on DevInfo in order to build a of the "Users" and "Database Administration" field of expertise in compiling and managing interfaces of DevInfo. databases, as well as to furnish them with the OIC-UN General Coordination Meeting The UN Assistant Secretary General, Head of The joint and cooperation activities carried the Office of United Nations in Geneva, Mr. out by the two major international Sergei Ordzhonikidze and the OIC Assistant organisations during the lapped two years Secretary General for Science and (July 2006-July 2008) have been evaluated Technology Ambassador Ali Akbar Salehi together with the future partnership projects have officially opened the 2-day biennial UN- and programmes to be undertaken during the OIC General Meeting on Cooperation on July next 2-year period. 8, 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting, which was attended by high level delegations During the meeting SESRIC representative from both General Secretariat and Specialized discussed and exchanged views with several Agencies of the OIC and UN, is an participating UN Agencies, such as World institutional framework of exchange of views, Bank, UNWTO, WMO, ITU and UNEP, on discussions and coordination between the two the possibilities of cooperation and agreed to major international organizations. The cooperate on developing and implementing Statistical, Economic and Social Research and capacity building and training programs, as Training Centre for Islamic Countries well as sharing and exchanging information (SESRIC) was represented thereat by Mr. and data between the concerned institutions in Mehmet Fatih Serenli, Acting Director of the areas of finance and banking sector, Training and Technical Cooperation poverty alleviation, micro finance, food Department, the OIC focal point for technical security, water and sanitation, tourism and cooperation activities. environment. Workshop on Improving the Investment Climate in the OIC Member Countries The Workshop on “Improving the Investment Views‟ Session for the 24th Session of the Climate in the OIC Member Countries” was COMCEC. held in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on 22-23 July 2008 in fulfillment of a The Workshop was organized by the recommendation of the 23rd Session of the Investment Promotion Technical Assistance COMCEC, held on 14-17 November 2007 in Programme (ITAP) of the Islamic Istanbul, Turkey, which chose the topic of this Development Bank (IDB) Group in Workshop as the theme of the „Exchange of collaboration with the SESRIC (the 3 Information Report 75 / October 2008 coordinating institution for the exchange of The Centre was represented at the Workshop views sessions of the COMCEC). by its Director General Dr. Savas Alpay and Mr. Nabil Dabour, Director of Economic and The Workshop was attended by Social Research Department who presented a representatives of the National Investment paper titled “Promoting Trade and Investment Promotion Agencies (NIPAs) of Tunisia, in the OIC Countries: The Role of Capacity Nigeria, Senegal, Djibouti, Egypt and Turkey. Building”. The paper assesses the recent It was also attended by the representatives of performance of trade and investment in the the World Association of Investment OIC countries and highlights the role of Promotion Agencies (WAIPA), African capacity building in overcoming the obstacles Business Round Table (ABRT) and Brazil that still hinder the efforts of those countries Trade and Investment Promotion Agency to increase their levels of trade and (APEX). investment at both the national and intra-OIC levels. The representatives of the OIC General Secretariat, SESRIC, ICDT and the following Following a general deliberation in a IDB Group‟s institutions: International summing-up session on all the themes of the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), Workshop, the participants agreed upon a set Islamic Corporation for the Development of of recommendations with the overall aim of Private Sector (IDD) and Islamic Corporation improving investment climate in OIC for the Investment of Insurance and Export countries. These recommendations specify a Credit (ICIEC) were also attended the set of actions that could be undertaken by the Workshop. OIC member countries and institutions as well as the timeframe for each of these actions Following the inaugural session, five working in the short, medium and long term. sessions were devoted, during the two days of the Workshop, to discussing the presentations The representative of the Centre, Mr. Nabil made by the representatives of the national Dabour, Acting Director of Research investment promotion agencies, the OIC and Department, participated in the general debate IDB institutions as well as the international on the recommendations and in preparing the investment promotion agencies. The final report of the Workshop. discussion during these working sessions tackled the following major themes: (i) The Workshop‟s final report, including the Foreign Direct Investment: Recent Profile; (ii) recommendations, will be submitted to the Promoting Intra-OIC Investment: Progress 24th Session of the COMCEC for and Challenges; (iii) Improving Investment consideration by the member countries during Climate in the OIC Countries: Experiences the Exchange of Views Session. and Useful Lessons; and (iv) Capacity Building for Promotion of Investment. Making the eHealth Connection Conference Making the eHealth Connection: Global organized by the Rockefeller Foundation in Partnerships, Local Solutions Conference collaboration with thirteen conveners took place at the Rockefeller Foundation's internationally recognized in the fields of Bellagio Center in Bellagio, Italy on July 13 - global health, international development and August 8, 2008. The conference was information & communications technology. 4 Information Report 75 / October 2008 As the ultimate goal is to improve health Unlocking eHealth markets outcomes for poor and vulnerable people National eHealth policies through eHealth by uniting the global community, the following eight key issues For stakeholders from the Global South, the