MENA INITIATIVE ON GOVERNANCE AND INVESTMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT
The MENA Initiative on Governance and Investment for Development is a regional effort, initiated
and led by countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It promotes broad reforms to enhance
the investment climate, modernise governance structures and operations, strengthen regional and
international partnerships, and promote sustainable economic growth throughout the MENA region. The
initiative aims at strengthening countries’ capacity to design and implement policy reforms.
The MENA Initiative consists of two pillars:

Governance Programme – aimed at modernising public governance structures and processes

Investment Programme – aimed at improving investment climate and policies
The MENA Initiative has made significant progress since its official launch in 2005. It has:

created a unique mechanism for results-oriented policy dialogue and capacity building among
practitioners from MENA and OECD countries, comprising eleven thematic Working Groups on
priority reform areas, each chaired by a MENA country and co-chaired by OECD countries. A
Steering Group, composed of the MENA chairs and OECD co-chairs, guides and supervises the
activities of the regional Working Groups. National co-ordination committees link the regional
policy dialogue to reform implementation on the ground and ensure policy co-ordination at the
national level.

promoted the formulation and endorsement of National Action Plans for improving governance
and investment by several participating MENA countries. These action plans comprise concrete,
time-bound reform objectives. They were validated at the Ministerial meeting of the Investment
Programme held at the Dead Sea in Jordan on 13-14 February 2006 and at the Steering Group
Meeting at Ministerial level of the Governance Programme held in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, on
19-20 May 2006.

supported the implementation of MENA countries’ National Action Plans through regional
capacity-building and peer-to-peer learning activities among policy makers from Arab and
OECD countries. The implementation progress is monitored and reviewed in the Working
Groups and the two Steering Groups.

led to suggestions for establishing regional public management and investment capacity-building
centres. Such centres have the critical size to disseminate best practices in a cost-efficient way.
Bahrain has for example created a regional Centre for Investment and the UAE has established a
regional Institute for Corporate Governance to support the work of the MENA Initiative.

been taken forward in close co-operation with the World Bank, Arab League, European Union,
UNIDO and other international and regional organisations. The Governance Initiative is jointly
supported by UNDP POGAR (Programme on Governance in the Arab Region) and the OECD.

taken on an important role as facilitator for partnerships among Arab governments and bilateral
and multilateral donors, where significant external technical and financial support is required for
policy implementation.
Primary focus for 2007:
Building on the achievements so far, the primary focus of the initiative for 2007 is to support the
implementation and the further development of MENA countries’ National Action Plans through deepened
capacity building and peer-advice both on the regional and national level, as well as monitoring and
measurement of progress.
About the Investment Programme
The Investment Programme has been developed with MENA country investment authorities in cooperation with other government agencies, under the leadership of a Steering Group chaired by Jordan and
Japan in the first year and now chaired by Egypt and the United Kingdom. The programme has five
Working Groups focusing on:

Transparent and open investment policies (chair: Jordan; co-chair: Japan);

Investment Promotion Agencies and business associations as driving forces for economic
reform (chair: United Arab Emirates; co-chair: Switzerland);

Tax frameworks for investment, including assessment of incentives (chairs: Bahrain, Egypt;
co-chair: Turkey);

Policies for financial sector and enterprise development for economic diversification (chair:
Saudi Arabia; co-chair: United Kingdom); and

Corporate governance (chair: Lebanon).
The Working Groups first met in January/February and September 2005 and the Steering Group met
in April and October 2005, and in May 2006. A new cycle of Working Group meetings began in
November 2006. A MENA Investment Ministerial Meeting was held on 13-14 February 2006, preceded by
a one day Business Forum. Ministers and senior officials from 16 MENA countries met in Jordan on 13-14
February 2006 with their counterparts from 15 OECD countries and representatives from other
organisations to discuss national and regional action plans and to agree to a Declaration on “Attracting
Investment to MENA Countries – Common Principles and Good Practice”. They committed their support
to the next phase of the Investment Programme, which focuses on the implementation of national
investment policy reforms. Workshops to review the implementation of National Investment Reform
Agendas were held in Egypt (May 2006), Jordan (June 2006), Oman (June 2006), Morocco (November
2006) and the UAE (December 2006); others are being planned for 2007. An action plan and a draft
Ministerial declaration on promoting business integrity and fighting corruption in the MENA region were
developed by a Task Force on Business Integrity.
The private sector from MENA and OECD countries actively participates in the Investment
Programme. The MENA-OECD Business Network comprising the OECD business community coordinated by the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC), the Arab Business
Council and other partners from the region have recently reiterated their commitment to the Initiative.
Closer co-operation with the G8 Investment Task Force led by the Arab Business Council will help to
further strengthen the Investment Programme. A MENA-OECD Enterprise Financing Network was
launched in 2006 to improve the framework for entrepreneurship financing in the region. The network
comprises financial institutions, science and research networks and entrepreneurs from MENA and OECD
countries.
About the Governance Programme
The Good Governance for Development (GfD) in Arab Countries Initiative was formally launched at
a Ministerial conference hosted by the Prime Minister of Jordan in February 2005 at the Dead Sea and is
implemented in partnership with UNDP POGAR (Programme on Governance in the Arab Region). Prime
Ministers and Ministers from 18 MENA countries endorsed a declaration setting out the objectives and
plans for the implementation of the programme. The initiative’s Steering Group was first chaired by
Jordan and is now chaired by Egypt. Sweden has succeeded Japan as the OECD co-chair of the GfD
Steering Group. The programme has six Working Groups focusing on:

Civil service and integrity (chair: Morocco, co-chair: Spain, Turkey);

E-government and administrative simplification (chair: Dubai; co-chairs: Italy, Korea);

Governance of public finance (chair: Egypt; co-chairs: Netherlands, United States);

Public services delivery, public-private partnerships and regulatory reform (chair: Tunisia;
co-chairs: United Kingdom, Italy, Canada);

Role of the judiciary and enforcement (chair: Jordan; co-chairs: United States, France); and

Civil society and media (chair: Lebanon; co-chair: European Union).
As a key result of the GfD Initiative, National Action Plans for modernising governance of seven
MENA countries have been presented at the Steering Group Meeting at Ministerial level held in Sharm ElSheikh, Egypt, on 19-20 May 2006. Ministers and high-level official delegations from 9 MENA and 14
OECD countries, as well as representatives from other organisations discussed National Action Plans,
regional cooperation, and the work plan for the next 18 months.
The GfD Working Groups met for the first time in 2005 and for the second time between March-May
2006. Since the beginning of 2006, a broad range of regional capacity-building and peer-to-peer learning
activities have been realised to support the implementation of MENA countries’ National Action Plans.
The third round of Working Group meetings is taking place between December 2006 and March 2007. It
serves to monitor progress made in implementing the National Action Plans and to endorse the emerging
programme of deepened capacity-building and peer-to-peer learning activities for 2007, both at the
national and at the regional level.
Contact persons:
Governance Programme
Steering Group Chair and Co-chairs:
Dr. Ahmed Darwish, Minister for Administrative Development, Egypt
Ambassador Gun-Britt Andersson, Sweden
OECD Secretariat:
Mr. Martin Forst, Tel. +33 1 45 24 91 70; email: martin.forst@oecd.org
UNDP:
Mr. Adel Abdellatif, Tel. +961 1 981 30; email: adel.abdellatif@undp.org
Investment Programme
Steering Group Co-chairs:
Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Minister of Investment, Egypt
Mr. Graham Minter, United Kingdom
OECD Secretariat:
Mr. Rainer Geiger, Tel. +33 1 45 24 91 03; email: rainer.geiger@oecd.org
Mr. Alexander Böhmer, Tel. +33 1 45 24 1912; email: alexander.boehmer@oecd.org