| Feature Story Template December 2009 – Shamshad Akhtar, World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa Vice President, addressed the International conference “Building Knowledge economies for job creation, increased competitiveness, and balanced development” that was jointly organized by the Tunisian government and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in coordination with the World Bank on December 1-3, 2009 in Tunis. The high level event was attended by the Tunisian Prime Minister, Ministers and high level officials representing various countries in the region, academics from across the Arab world, and World Bank experts. In today’s world, competitiveness depends on firms that employ a well-educated, technically skilled workforce that is capable of adopting new technologies to produce and sell sophisticated goods and services. Knowledge Economy integrated policies are crucial and one of the principal barriers in the Arab World is the quality of education and the gap between the supply and demand of skills. The discussions focused on how countries in the region can develop, formulate and implement integrated knowledge economy policies. The presentations and debate brought to the forefront the approaches and methodologies adopted by a number of countries to integrate knowledge economy and how the lessons learned and experiences can be applied by countries in the region. The importance of regional collaboration to build solid knowledge economies in the Arab World was also strongly highlighted by the Middle East and North Africa Vice President as key for paving the way towards a knowledge-based economy in the Arab World. In her opening speech, Ms. Akhtar noted: “Knowledge economy is a way of fostering sustainable economic growth and promoting welfare of people. A lot has been achieved in the region in terms of access to education and Information and Communication Technology infrastructures and services but progress can still be made in private sector development.” She further added: “The World Bank is keenly supporting this forum as well as other endeavors of this type to develop and promote better understanding of the advantages and merits of a knowledge economy and how to nurture and foster cross-country collaboration to build knowledge economies.” More about the conference Knowledge Economy in the Arab World | During her visit to Tunisia, Shamshad Akhtar, MENA Regional Vice President, met with the President of the Tunisian Republic, H.E. Mr. Zinelabdine Ben Ali and members of the Tunisian Government. She praised the strong partnership with Tunisia and reiterated the World Bank commitment to supporting Tunisia on the strategic path to development and regional integration". |
According to the World Bank’s Knowledge Economy Index measures, MENA region has made progress over the last ten years in terms of rolling out education access and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and gradually improving the institutional environment for private-sector led growth. But a number of MENA countries have yet to develop a well conceptualized strategy for knowledge economy and integrate it in their development plans. This would require the adoption of a combination of policies including significant transformations of the education sector and the innovation system, the overall ICT infrastructure and the overarching strengthening of economic and institutional systems to promote private sector led economic diversification. The World Bank has launched the Arab World Initiative (AWI) to address the impediments that are holding back regional economic integration including inadequate cross border infrastructure. These issues - if addressed - would provide a larger context and ground for promoting knowledge economies in the Arab World. Â |
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