cordially invite you to the launch of
A new database and ranking tool by the World Bank shows that in 2007 most
countries have continued to improve policies and institutions supporting trade
integration in the global economy. Countries that have the best policies and
institutions also tend to have stronger and more consistent trade and export
performance.
The World Trade Indicators (WTI) 2008 database and ranking tool allows
benchmarking and comparisons of countries and customs territories across
trade-related indicators and will help policymakers and researchers analyze the
key at-the-border and behind-the-border factors affecting the trade peformance
of countries and regions. Drawing from international databases and including
some new measures of trade policy and performance, the user-friendly WTI
database makes it possible?for the first time?to rank countries and compare
their performance on all policy and institutional dimensions, namely trade
policy, the external environment, institutions and business climate, and trade
facilitation, that economists believe affect trade and export performance.
Trade briefs and Trade-at-a-Glance (TAAG) tables capture the main findings at
the country level from the database and the analytical work of relevant
international orgzanizations. The WTI 2008 publication summarizes patterns and
trends in trade policies and institutions as well as trade outcomes revealed by
the database across countries, regions and income groups. An extract from its
Executive Summary is attached below.
The WTI website will be available on June 17 at:
www.worldbank.org/wti2008
Tuesday, June 17
12:00 - 1:30 pm
World Bank J Building
Auditorium J1-050
701 18th St. NW
A buffet lunch will be served
*RSVP REQUIRED* Please send an email to infoshopevents@worldbank.org
CHAIR
Rakesh Nangia
Acting Vice President, World Bank Institute
Mr. Nangia is the World Bank Institute?s (WBI) Acting Vice President and
Director of Operations. The latter position he assumed in September 2006 and he
was appointed Acting Vice President of WBI in March 2007. In his more than 20
years in the World Bank, Mr. Nangia?s career has spanned a wide range of
countries and positions, including development work in Africa, East Asia,
Eastern Europe and South Asia, as well as in the Bank's Corporate Secretariat
and Central Accounting group. Prior to his current position, Mr. Nangia served
as Manager, Portfolio and Country Operations, in Vietnam.
OPENING REMARKS
Ngozi N. Okonjo-Iweala
Managing Director, World Bank
From June to August 2006, she was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria. From
July 2003 to June 2006 she served as Minister of Finance and Economy of Nigeria
and Head of Nigeria's much acclaimed Presidential Economic team. Previously, she
pursued a 21-year career as a development economist at the World Bank, where she
held the post of Vice President and Corporate Secretary. This included two tours
of duty working in the East Asia Region, the last tour as Country Director
Malaysia, Mongolia, Laos and Cambodia during the East Asian financial crisis;
two duty tours in the Middle East Region, the last as Director, Operations
(deputy vice-president) of the region. Ms. Okonjo-Iweala also served as Director
of Institutional Change and Strategy. From 1989 to 1991 she was Special
assistant to the Senior Vice President, Operations. She has received numerous
awards, and is a member or chair of numerous boards and advisory groups. Ms.
Okonjo-Iweala was the founder of the first ever indigenous opinion research
organization in Nigeria (NOI Polls) in partnership with the Gallup organization,
which strives to strengthen democracy and accountability in Nigeria. She was
co-founder of the Makeda Fund, a US$50 million private equity fund designed to
invest in women-owned and women-influenced small and medium enterprises in
Africa.
PRESENTERS
Roumeen Islam
Manager, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, World Bank Institute
Prior to joining WBI, Ms. Islam was Staff Director of the World Bank's World
Development Report 2002: Building Institutions for Markets. She was advisor to
the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President in the Bank's Development
Economics group. Ms. Islam has also worked in World Bank Operations in several
regions. Her professional expertise includes public expenditure rationalization,
fiscal stability, growth strategies, trade and exchange rate issues, sovereign
debt rationalization, financial sector reform, and private sector development.
Gianni Zanini
Lead Economist, World Bank Institute
Since late 2002, Mr. Zanini has led the WBI?s trade team, working on capacity
building and external training programs in trade policy reform and in the
multilateral, regional, and bilateral trade agreements and negotiations. He has
more than 21 years experience at the World Bank, first as a country economist
and then as an evaluator of the performance of adjustment operations and country
assistance programs. Prior to working at the World Bank, he taught
macroeconomics at the University of California, Davis, and worked as business
staff writer for some of Italy's major news magazines.
EXTERNAL DISCUSSANT(S)
To be confirmed
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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
(See attached file: Extract from the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.doc)
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