The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), OECD Development Centre (DEV), Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Bangladesh, Commonwealth Secretariat (CS), and the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) are convening the Istanbul Trade and Development Symposium on LDCs in conjunction with the Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (UNLDC IV). Open to the public, the Symposium will bring together policy makers and experts from international organizations, civil society, private sector, and academia to identify innovative strategies for tackling the implementation challenges of the UNLDCIV outcome towards structural transformation in LDCs.

The Programme will include sessions on:
• Implementation and Monitoring of the UNLDC IV outcome
• Enhancing Trade capacities in LDCs
• Strengthening LDCs and emerging economies' partnerships
• Tackling structural vulnerabilities and enhancing resilience of LDCs to crises

Download the DRAFT agenda here.

Registration: You can register online at our website or by contacting Anne Pfister.

Get more information online at www.istanbulsymposium.org.

The OECD is delighted to be hosting the Annual Bank Conference on Developing Economies in partnership with the World Bank and the government of France. to be held at OECD Headquarters in Paris, France from 30 May to 1 June 2011.

This year’s ABCDE will address the challenges of broadening opportunities for development. Over three days, leading development economists and policy makers will reflect on how to broaden opportunities by, for example, ensuring better access to health, affordable financial services and land ownership. Discussions will also cover job creation and labour-market regulation, social protection, skills development and education, and challenges related to gender inequality.

Alongside presentations by several of the world’s most respected development economists, the provisional agenda for ABCDE 2011 includes keynote speeches by Michelle Bachelet (UN Under-Secretary General, UN Women) and Christine Lagarde (French Minister of Finance). The event will conclude with a Roundtable on Democratising Development Economics, bringing together eminent experts such as Donald Kaberuka (President of the African Development Bank), Dani Rodrik (Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University) and Soumaïla Cissé (President of the West African Economic and Monetary Union).

ABCDE 2011 will be co-hosted by the OECD, Government of France and World Bank, and will take place at the OECD headquarters.

The event will be webcast live and will feature on blogs, Twitter and Facebook. For more information on this very special event, please visit www.oecd.org/abcde2011.

To attend and participate at the ABCDE 2011, please click here to apply. The deadline is 1 May 2011.