MENA-OECD meeting agrees way ahead for improving regional investment conditions

Conclusions from the three-day sessions, which focused on developing concrete steps to develop improvements in the investment environment of the Middle East and North Africa, will be presented on 3rd October when participants in the Steering Group of the MENA-OECD Investment Programme meet for the final time in Istanbul, hosted by the government of Turkey before the Ministerial Meeting at the Dead Sea in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Hosted by Bahrain's EDB (Economic Development Board), the talks here were the fourth meeting this year between senior representatives from government, civil and private sector organisations of the MENA states and the OECD. The conclusions, once agreed, are to be presented as recommendations to MENA ministers in the form of a Ministerial Investment Charter entitled "Attracting Investment to MENA Countries - Common Principles and Good Practice". This meeting will be held at the MENA-OECD Investment Ministerial Meeting in Jordan in November 2005.

As host to the MENA-OECD Investment Programme, Bahrain has been highly commended by the OECD for playing a leading regional role in driving forward the progress of the Programme. The Programme promotes broad reforms to enhance the investment climate so as to attract foreign and domestic investment, modernise governance structures and operations, strengthen regional and international partnerships, and promote sustainable economic growth throughout the MENA region.

The Programme aims to strengthen countries' capacity to design and implement policy reforms.

The Steering Group is designed to guide and supervise the Programme, and is comprised of high-level delegates from MENA and OECD countries, other International organisations and the private sector.

The institutional setting of the MENA-OECD Investment Programme can provide a framework for a Peer Review process between MENA countries and with their peers in OECD countries on policy reforms affecting the investment environment. The meetings of the 5 Working Groups to date, the Steering Group meetings and the Ministerial meeting aim to serve as an effective vehicle for this process. The National Investment Reform Agendas defined by MENA countries provide the substantive basis for such a mutual progress assessment.

The meetings in Bahrain covered discussion of regulatory frameworks for foreign investment and options for reform in MENA countries; ways of improving the integrity of business transactions in order to reduce uncertainty and risk to domestic and foreign investors; tax and non-tax incentives for investment; assessment of FDI data availability and identification of areas for improvements to increase conformity with international standards.

The OECD is a group of 30 member countries that represent the biggest trading block in the world brought together by a commitment to democratic government and market economies. Politically independent, the OECD is best known for the calibre of its international research, its publications, statistics and its work covering economic and social issues.

The OECD-MENA Investment Programme focuses on investment and research led and driven by countries in the MENA region. It is aimed that the MENA countries will have more active engagement in shaping the programme of work and agreed actions with the OECD Headquarters in Paris.