MENA and OECD countries continue their commitment to strong co-operation

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6 October 2008, Paris

The high-level meeting of the MENA-OECD Investment Programme on 6 October 2008 in Paris brought together delegations from MENA and OECD countries and representatives of international organisations to discuss strategic directions for the second phase of the MENA-OECD Investment Programme and the launching of the Business Climate Development Strategies (BCDS).

The meeting was opened by Mrs. Carolyn Ervin, Director of OECD’s Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs and chaired by H.E Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Minister of Investment of Egypt, and Mr. Graham Minter, Co-chair of the MENA-OECD Investment Programme.

(From l. to r.) Mr. Alexander Böhmer, Mr. Anthony O'Sullivan, Mrs. Carolyn Ervin, H.E. Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldine, Mr. Graham Minter, H.E. Mr. Nasser Kamal take part in discussions during the high-level meeting ushering in the MENA-OECD Investment Programme's second phase.

Following the successful completion of the first phase of the MENA-OECD Investment Programme (2005-2007), the second phase hfor a period of three years (2008-2010) as now been officially ushered in by Council mandate.

For this second phase, participants have requested additional assistance in two specific areas:

country-specific support
focus on support in implementation of reform priorities

In order to respond to this demand, the MENA-OECD Investment Programme introduced the Business Climate Development Strategy (BCDS), a novel, hands-on approach to provide country-specific support in reform prioritisation and implementation, endorsed by ministers of the region in Egypt in November 2007.

A number of tangible outcomes resulted from this meeting, including:

development of a strategy for the second phase of the MENA-OECD Investment Programme, outlined by the programme chair, that builds on regional expert working groups, the national Business Climate Development Strategy, an annual MENA competitiveness report, and the Regional Centres
formation of new Working Group on Entrepreneurship, SME policy and Human Capital and indication of directions for its future work, including skills development and productivity
emphasis on the future work of the Working Group on Financial Sector Development and Economic Diversification to face issues of regulation and supervision of the financial system, including banks, stock exchange, mortgage finance, leasing, financial centres and investment banking
presentations by Ministers from Morocco, Egypt, and Tunisia on the implementation of the Business Climate Development Strategy (BCDS)
emphasis on the development of regional initiatives on responsible business conduct, especially on issues such as business integrity, youth entrepreneurship and environmental protection, as well as women entrepreneurship, to ensure the impact of private sector development on job creation and poverty reduction
announcement by Tunisia to host the new regional centre for competitiveness, and presentation of Bahrain on the important contributions made by the regional centres to the MENA-OECD Investment Programme The MENA 100 initiative of the MENA-OECD Enterprise Financing Network will support the impact of the existing Centres.
emphasis on the development of effective co-ordination mechanisms as part of the Business Climate Development Strategy efforts with other regional initiatives and international organisations active in the region, such as the World Bank, the EU Commission, UNDP and the Union pour la Méditérranée