Afghanistan – CIPE conducted five business proposal writing competitions this week as part of its Tashabos high school entrepreneurship course. Sixty students participated in the competitions, which were held at both boys’ and girls’ schools in Bamyan province. The top students will compete in a final competition among students from all schools participating in the Tashabos program.
CIPE hosts roundtable on the role of the private sector in reducing corruption in Islamabad; CIPE releases new guidebook, Improving Public Governance: Closing the Implementation Gap Between Law and Practice;CIPE partner releases Wasit Provincial Business Agenda in Iraq
Ethiopia – CIPE consultants Henock Assefa and Hailemelekot Asfaw conducted two focus groups with 12 business people from construction, information technology, advertising, consulting, and manufacturing sectors. The participants are not currently members of a chamber of commerce, and the consultants’ questions sought to understand their needs with regards to advocacy and consulting services.
China – CIPE staff are in Beijing to meet with current and prospective CIPE partners.
Japan – Regional Director John Callebaut was in Tokyo to participate in the annual Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Asian Corporate Governance Roundtable.
Albania – CIPE Program Officer Natalia Otel Belan and CIPE consultant Carmen Stanila visited Tirana on October 22-25. They met with leading Albanian business associations that, over the past year, have been engaged in a CIPE-supported program focusing on building private sector capacity for policymaking. Belan and Stanila also worked closely with the Albanian Center for Economic Research, which provides analytical support to these organizations to design an advocacy strategy for the program.
Bolivia – Fundación Milenio released its 168th economic analysis bulletin. This bulletin features an analysis of the Chilean and Peruvian economy in the first semester of 2012. These economic analysis bulletins form part of CIPE’s and Milenio’s efforts to cultivate a more informed citizenship in the area of economic policy. The bulletin is available for download in Spanish on Milenio’s website.
Iraq – The Karbala Chamber of Commerce cooperated with CIPE to conduct the fourth in a series of private sector-led advocacy events for recommendations in the Karbala Provincial Business Agenda. Participants addressed issues inhibiting growth to Karbala’s industrial sector. The Karbala Governor committed to working with the private sector to resolve issues related to Iraq’s transitions to a free market economy.
Afghanistan – CIPE conducted a training session for 10 members of a working group of the Ghazni Provincial Council, with five councilor members and five representatives of the private sector participating. The sessions aim to increase the council’s capacity to advocate effectively at the grassroots level for implementation of the Afghanistan National Business Agenda. Specifically, this session addressed the transformation from an informal economy to a formal economy.
CIPE Pakistan recently held an event on the role of the private sector in combating corruption, where CIPE partner Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry launched a survey on perceptions of corruption in Pakistan. The event was attended by 75 senior exeuctives from the public and private sectors, international institutions, and academia. The event was also covered in the Pakistani news media:
