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In May, 1995 the Worldaware Business Group on
Public Policy for Development was launched. The
principal aim of the Group is to enable
representatives of business to consult informally
with the makers and influencers of public policy in
Government, Opposition and international
development agencies.
The guest of honour at the Group’s first meeting
was the then Shadow Minister for Overseas
Development, Joan Lestor, MP. At a subsequent
meeting a programme of action for the first year
was worked out, and a Steering Committee was
appointed. In February the Group held a seminar
attended by the Minister for Overseas Development,
Baroness Chalker, when a valuable discussion on the
relationship between the ODA* and the business
community took place.
As a result of that meeting it was agreed that
there should be a one-day consultation between the
senior officials of the ODA* and a small
representative group from the business community,
to investigate the potential for greater
co-operation between business and the ODA*. This
consultation took place at Chevening House in June,
1996. Following on from it a number of important
initiatives are being undertaken to ensure closer
consultation about the British Aid Programme
between the public and private sectors.
In November 1996 the Group held a meeting to
discuss possibilities for co-operation between the
private sector and NGOs. The guest speakers were
Dick Bird, Acting Director of VSO, and Jonathan
Forrest and Hugh Venables of ActionAid. Further
discussions were held in May 1997.
If you would like more information about the
WBGPPD, please complete the online
business mailing list.
(* The ODA was replaced by the Department for
International Development in 1997.)
Recent meetings of the
WBGPPD
20 January 1999
Jean-Francois Rischard, the World Bank’s
Vice-President for Europe, spoke on ‘The
changing shape of public sector/private sector
partnerships’, with special reference to the
Bank’s role in such initiatives as Private Sector
Finance for Infrastrucutre and INFODEV.
9 June 1998
Conference on ‘Co-operation between NGOs and
companies: learning from experience’. Case
studies from WaterAid and Severn Trent; Marie
Stopes International in Bangladesh; British
American Financial Services; SightSavers and Boots
Opticians. Followed by workshop and group
discussions on What would successful NGO-company
co-operation look like? Report available from
Worldaware.
5 June 1998
Conference on ‘Overcoming Law-related
Obstacles to Investment in Developing
Countries’. Speakers were: Professor Jeswald
Salacuse, Henry J. Braker Professor of Law, The
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts
University; Roger Wilson, Head of Government and
Institutions, DFID; Daoud L. Khairallah, Deputy
General Counsel Legal Department, The World Bank;
Jonathan Jones, Senior Legal Counsel, ICI Paints
and Graham Rodmell, Legal and Development
Consultant. Report by Amanda Perry available from
Worldaware.
20 May 1998
DFID presentation of its new ‘roadshow’
initiative arising from the White Paper. The
‘roadshow’ presentation aims to help its overseas
personnel to understand the new thinking and to
elicit feedback from them.
5 January 1998
Nigel Twose, adviser to the World Bank’s
Vice-President on Finance and Private Sector
Development on ‘Partnership with
Business’.
Forthcoming
Meetings
INVESTMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES:
PRIORITIES FOR THE COMMONWEALTH
At a WBGPPD seminar last November at which the
Rt Hon Clare Short was the keynote speaker we
launched our first report in the project on
‘Promoting Investment in the Commonwealth’ which we
are undertaking for the newly-established
Commonwealth Business Council (CBC). That report
contained the views of people in the UK business
community on how obstacles to greater investment in
developing Commonwealth countries might be
overcome.
Our second report, containing the perceptions of
a number of business leaders in developing
countries, was launched in February at a conference
in New Delhi. The project is now moving into its
third stage, which is to bring together the most
important perceptions of people in business
throughout the Commonwealth in the form of a few
key recommendations which can be put by the CBC to
the Commonwealth Heads of Government when they meet
in South Africa in November.
We should welcome the Group’s help in
determining what those key recommendations should
be, at a seminar which will be held on Wednesday,
12th May 1999 at 2.30pm. The keynote speaker will
be the Chairman of the British Overseas Trade
Board, Sir Martin Laing, and the seminar will be
chaired by the CBC Chairman, Earl Cairns.
Following Sir Martin’s address there will be a
panel-led discussion on the priorities for action
in a Commonwealth. Points arising from the
discussion will be incorporated in the report which
will be presented at the Commonwealth Heads of
Government meeting.
If you would like to attend, please contact
Christine Price at Worldaware.
Public-Private Partnerships for
Infrastructure in Developing Countries
In June the Department for International
Development and the World Bank will launch a new
joint initiative on Public-Private Partnerships for
Infrastructure in Developing Countries. There will
be an opportunity for the Group to hear the details
of this initiative from two of the people most
directly concerned with it – John Hodges, Chief
Engineering Adviser, DFID and Warrick Smith, World
Bank – and to comment on its implementation, at a
seminar on Friday, 18th June 1999. The meeting
will begin with registration and coffee from 10.00
to 10.30 am and will end around 12.30 pm.
If you wish to attend please contact Christine
Price at Worldaware.
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