Friday, November 2, 2007

"Connecting to Compete: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy" discussed in the InfoShop on Wednesday, November 7 at 3:00pm in J1-050

InfoShop, International Trade Department, the Transport Unit, PREM and SDN
Networks

cordially invite you to a launch of a New Report and website, featuring a panel
discussion of the report

Connecting to Compete
Trade Logistics in the Global Economy

With the advent of global supply chains, a new premium is being placed on the
ability to move goods rapidly and reliably. Countries able to connect to the
global logistics web have access to vast new markets; while those whose links
are weak face the large and growing costs of exclusion.

The Logistics Performance Index (LPI), with its indicators, is the first
comprehensive benchmarking tool that measures a country?s logistics performance
along its supply chain. Based on a worldwide survey of global freight
forwarders and express carriers, this first report details logistics performance
in 150 countries.

The study shows that trade logistics, or the capacity to connect to
international markets to ship goods, is critical for developing countries to
improve their competitiveness, reap the benefits of globalization, and fight
poverty more effectively in an increasingly integrated world. It identifies the
factors and policies that explain the wide differences in logistics performance
among countries at similar levels of development and aims to help countries
identify challenges and opportunities to improve their logistics performance.
For more information please visit: www.worldbank.org/lpi

Wednesday, November 7, 2007
3:00pm
World Bank J Building, Auditorium J1-050
For non bank staff, please rsvp to InfoShopevents@worldbank.org
The event will be followed by a wine and cheese reception

CHAIR
Uri Dadush
Director, International Trade Department, World Bank
Uri Dadush, a French national, became Director of the International Trade
Department of the World Bank in July 2002. This department provides a single
venue for accountability for trade-related work in the institution. In this
position, Mr. Dadush is also responsible for managing the Development Prospects
Group. This Group is responsible for analysis and projections of the world
economy and financial markets and their implications for developing
countries.Mr. Dadush was previously Chair of the Economic Policy Sector Board
and Director of Economic Policy. Prior to joining the World Bank in 1992, Mr.
Dadush was President of the Economist Intelligence Unit, part of The Economist
Group, from 1986 to 1992. He was Group Vice President, International, for Data
Resources, Inc., from 1982 -1986. He has also worked as a consultant with
McKinsey and Co. in Italy and Denmark.
.

SPEAKERS
Jean Francois Arvis
Senior Economist, International Trade Department, World Bank
Mr. Arvis is coordinating knowledge and advisory work in the area of trade
logistics and facilitation. He is responsible for the development of logistics
related indicators and for the Bank?s major project on transit and landlocked
countries. He has extensive involvement in various trade and transportation
projects worldwide. Prior to joining the World Bank, he held various managerial
positions with the French Ministry of Economy and Industry (energy, regulation,
trade, finance and management of development assistance programs).


Monica Alina Mustra
Lead consultant, International Trade Department, World Bank
Mrs. Mustra joined the World Bank in 2004 and has worked on a number of the
Bank?s trade and transport related projects and learning products including
organization of policy dialogues, workshops, seminars, and distance learning
courses. Most recently she contributed to the ?Logistics Performance Indicators
(LPI)? project ? a global initiative of the World Bank Trade Logistics Group.
She is currently acting as the Coordinator for the Global Facilitation
Partnership for Transportation and Trade (GFP) www.gfptt.org.

Prior to joining
the World Bank she worked for the Harvard Center for International Development
(CID), the European Commission, and the Romanian Ministry of Finance.

PANELISTS
Marc Juhel
Sector Manager, Transport, World Bank
Mr. Juhel joined the World Bank in 1992 as a Port Specialist. Before his
appointment as the Sector Manager, he held the position of Transport and
Logistics Adviser in this Bank?s central Transport Division. His specific areas
of expertise are the development planning of port facilities, the economic,
financial and institutional aspects of transport systems, and the integration of
national logistics functions within the international transport system, focusing
in particular on transport and trade facilitation issues. In addition to
managing the work program of the Transport Unit he is also called on to provide
operational guidance to transport projects undertaken by the Bank. He is the
co-leader of the Ports, Rail, Aviation and Logistics (PRAL) Thematic Group and
is co-manager of the Trade Logistics Group established between the Bank?s Trade
and Transport Departments. Before joining the Bank he spent 11 years with a
French Consulting Group and worked in the Ivory Coast and Comoros.

Lauri Ojala
Professor of Logistics, Turku School of Economics
Mr. Ojala's research interests include global logistics and transport policy
issues. He has published in several leading journals of logistics such as the
International Journal of Logistics Management and Physical Distribution (IJLM,
IJLM&PD), and Maritime Policy & Management. Since 2004, and has been the
European Editor of the International Journal of Logistics Management and
Physical Distribution (IJLM&PD). He has worked on numerous research and
development projects on transport and logistics issues for the World Bank,
European Union and OECD, as well as for many governments. He has extensive
experience in transition economies (Caucasus, Central Asia, Baltic, Moldova) as
a consultant for the World Bank. In these positions he developed the concept of
a logistics perception survey, which was implemented as a pilot in 2003 (70
countries), and worldwide (150 countries) in 2006. He has also engaged in a
number of industry-related logistics projects and is active in the promotion of
logistics strategy projects with governmental institutions or the private
sector.

Gene Pentimonti
Senior Consultant, Maersk, Inc.
Formerly Senior Vice President, Government Relations
Until his retirement in September 2007, Mr. Pentimonti was Maersk Inc.'s Senior
Vice President, Government Relations, and in that capacity was responsible for
the company?s legislative, regulatory, and international government affairs.
Before joining Maersk Inc. in 2002, he provided intermodal industry consulting
to both Parsons Brinkerhoff and Lockheed Martin IMS Corporation, and then was
president of Pacer Stacktrain, a division of Pacer International. Beginning in
1996 he was Senior Vice President of the American Trucking Association and also
served as president of their Intermodal Conference leading their advocacy group
of intermodal motor carriers and associates. Prior to joining the American
Trucking Association he held planning, design, engineering, development,
operational, and management roles for over 25 years with the American President
Lines. He played a key role in the planning, engineering, and construction of
the industry?s shift to containerization and has played an integral part in the
evaluation and design of vessels. Among his major accomplishments has been the
engineering, construction and operation of the first doublestack trains.

Alhousseynou Diallo
Economic Counselor, Embassy of Senegal
Mr. Diallo is currently economic counselor at the Embassy of Senegal in
Washington. He is a Senior Customs Official and was until recently adviser to
the Minister of Finance. He has been involved in the design and implementation
of major reforms and facilitation initiatives in Senegal. He has also taught
fiscal policies and financial management at the University of Dakar.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
About the International Trade Department
The Bank?s trade strategy aims at helping countries benefit from increased
globalization and making the world trading system more supportive of
development. It focuses on integrating trade and competitiveness into national
development strategies through improving incentives for private investment in
tradable sectors (e.g., reforms in tariffs, and tax policies); reducing the
costs of trading (e.g., improving key producer services and trade facilitation);
and targeted policies to promote competitiveness (e.g., strengthening standards
awareness and management capacities, and export promotion).
In recent years, the World Bank has scaled up support for trade-related reform
through analytical and advisory services, sustained policy dialogue, financial
assistance, technical assistance, and capacity building. Bank lending ?
concessional and nonconcessional ? has grown from about US$400 million in total
commitments in FY2000 to about US$1.6 billion in FY06 and FY07, strongly driven
by trade-related infrastructure in support of regional integration, export
development and competitiveness, and trade facilitation. Loans involved 42
countries and four multi-country loans, with the majority of lending going to
Europe and Central Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Bank country strategy is complemented and underpinned by a global agenda of
advocacy, analysis, and provision of data, tools, and training on trade.
For more information, please visit: www.worldbank.org/trade

About the Transport Unit:
The mission of the transport group in the Bank is to assist clients to reduce
poverty by improving the efficiency and equity of transport policy and
interventions. Transport group will work with the public and private sectors and
communities to enhance the capacity of transport institutions to provide
sustainable infrastructure and services.
The Transport Sector generates a very significant part of the Bank?s activities.
It successfully delivered $33.5 billion (over 14 percent of WBG portfolio)
through the 1998-2007 decade. FY07 lending has reached $5 billion, amounting to
20 percent of World Bank Group's new annual commitments.
For more information, please visit: www.worldbank.org/transport

About the InfoShop
The InfoShop is the public information center of the World Bank and serves as a
forum for substantial debate on international development. Our extensive events
program consists of more than 250 events over the past two years and has hosted
many internationally recognized speakers including Queen Noor, Francis Fukuyama,
Jeffrey Sachs, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Friedman, and Carly Fiorina.
The InfoShop functions as the only publicly accessible space at headquarters and
provides internal and external audiences with over 15,000 titles published by
the World Bank, international organizations, and other publishers on development
issues.
For more information, visit: www.worldbank.org/infoshop
Comments about the events program: http://go.worldbank.org/TDG9T8O9K0

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