Contacts In Marseilles, France:
Chantal Dejou
Phone: +33-4-91-13-17-50
E-mail: Cdejou@worldbank.org In Washington: Sereen Juma Phone: +1 202 473-7199 E-mail: sjuma@worldbank.org Sunetra Puri Phone: + 1 202 473-2049
E-mail:spuri1@worldbank.org Marseilles, March 15, 2004─The World Bank, the City of Marseilles, and the Institut de la Méditerranée today opened the Middle East and North Africa Knowledge Hub (MKH) [1] in Marseilles. Using state-of-the-art information and communications technologies, the center will help boost capacity for knowledge sharing and learning in the MENA region. The knowledge hub inauguration follows the launch of the second annual Knowledge for Development Conference [2] in Marseilles. Sponsored by the World Bank, and the Institut de la Méditerranée, the two-day conference explores the nexus of trade, competitiveness, and the knowledge economy. The two Marseilles events come as the MENA region faces unprecedented social and economic challenges. According to a recent World Bank report, the region must double today's employment levels by 2020, creating 100 million additional jobs. An increasingly educated and young population is entering already strained labor markets, with unemployment rates averaging 15 percent. Jobless rates are on average 50 percent higher among women than among men. “Given the demographic trend in the region, boosting trade and competitiveness will be key to creating jobs for the burgeoning youth population—and this will require tapping into people’s quality of education, creativity, and entrepreneurial skills,” says Christiaan Poortman, Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank. "This second Knowledge for Development Conference in Marseilles, offers an important opportunity for MENA countries to share each other’s experiences in harnessing the information and knowledge revolution to spur trade and growth—and ultimately meet the region’s employment challenge.” MENA remains poorly integrated with the rest of the world. Trade represents 12 percent of GDP (compared to almost 50 percent in East Asia). For example: the region’s manufactured exports, at $40 billion, are the same as those of Finland, with a population 55 times that of Finland. Foreign direct investment is about one percent of the GDP, less than in Sub-Saharan Africa. The region has 5 percent of the world population, but only 0.7 percent of the internet connections. “Demand from the Middle East for knowledge and learning services has been growing as the region recognizes that its competitive position in the global economy depends critically on building its capacity, especially in those areas that are most relevant to the ‘knowledge-based economy’, says Frannie A. Léautier, vice president of the World Bank Institute [3], the capacity building arm of the World Bank.“The Knowledge Hub will facilitate global knowledge exchange and learning services, connecting people, firms, and institutions in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.” Reaching Out through Technology The MKH will initially work on four key themes identified as priority for the region: Knowledge for Development; Education and Employment, including youth issues; Urban Management; and Governance and Transparency; with water, health issues, and for private participation for infrastructures possibly added later. “The Hub’s location in Marseilles, a crossroads of Europe and the Middle East and North Africa, will help the World Bank develop sustainable partnerships with knowledge institutions in Europe and the MENA region,” says Jean-François Rischard, World Bank Vice President for Europe. The hub will act as a knowledge broker, matching regional demands with the global supply of knowledge services, and will promote distance learning programs in French and Arabic. The modern videoconference technologies of the Global Development Learning Network [4] will provide interactive access to more than 60 countries. MENA institutions such as training centers, professional networks, universities, and think tanks will in turn play a lead role as knowledge connectors and providers. Development experts in the MENA countries will benefit from being connected with their counterparts from Europe, other regions, and around the world through online networks as well as face-to-face knowledge exchanges. The Hub is expected to reinforce synergies between the World Bank’s capacity building programs and those of the European Commission, and will work closely with PACA(Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region), the Agence Française de Dévelopment, the CEFEB, University Thetys, the Institut de la Méditerranée and MENA / EURO city network led by Marseilles. Staffed by a small team of about 10, the Hub will develop learning programs in Arabic, English, and French, but will also draw on the thematic networks such as FEMISE (Conférence Euro-Méditerranéen des Instituts Economiques) and the AUDI (Arab Urban Development Institute). The city of Marseilles is contributing office space as well as funding and technical support. The Hub will also serve as a secretariat for the Mediterranean Development Conference (MDF) [5]. Boosting Trade and Competitiveness to Meet the Employment Challenge On its first day, the Knowledge for Development Conference engaged a diverse group of participants from the private sector and government agencies in MENA[6] and European countries as well as World Bank officials in a dialogue on how to take advantage of knowledge-based economies as the region moves toward greater integration with the global economy. The Conference builds on the first meeting held in Marseilles in 2002 which established the need to seize new growth opportunities offered by the knowledge economy to meet MENA’s employment challenge. Triggered by globalization, the ‘knowledge economy’ refers to a new form of economic development that draws on quality education and people’s creativity, as well as advanced information and telecommunications infrastructure. Several countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia presented case studies of their experience in facilitating trade and competitiveness with linkages to the knowledge economy. At the Conference, the Municipality of Marseilles and other Mediterranean municipalities signed a Cooperation Charter with the World Bank, creating a network between Mediterranean cities to promote close coordination in developing urban projects. [1] the Middle East and North Africa Knowledge Hub (MKH) http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/RCET/mkh [2] Knowledge for Development Conference www.worldbank.org/marseille2004 [3] The World Bank Institute: www.worldbank.org/wbi [4] The Global Development Learning Network: www.gdln.org [5] Mediterranean Development Forum (MDF): www.worldbank.org/wbi/mdf/ [6] For more information on the World Bank’s activities in MENA, please visit http://www.worldbank.org/mena |
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