Issue 8, September 2012 Small States Network for Economic Development Newsletter 10h Board of Trustees meeting 1 Twinning projects for 2 2012 Participants attending the training workshop on competition case-law, organised and funded by the SSNED for senior public officials and judges. This workshop was held in Barbados on 30-31 July 2012. The SSNED held its 10th meeting of the Board of Trustees on 12-23 March 2012. A brief report is presented below. During this period, the Network completed four training workshops and a twinning project. These are described on page 2 of this Newsletter. The focus of the training workshops was mainly competition law and policy, which attracted many judges from the Pacific, Caribbean, Indian Ocean and African small states. Page 3 of the Newsletter presents information about possible projects that could be organised by the SSNED, should it succeed in securing funds for this purpose. On page 4 of this Newsletter information is given about members of the Network and about eligibility for membership. 10th Board of Trustees meeting The 10th meeting of the Board of Trustees of the SSNED was held electronically by email communication between 12-23 March 2012. This procedure was also adopted in previous meetings mostly in order to save funds. The Board continued the discussion related to governance, including amendments to the statute as well as the adoption of a manual of procedures following suggestions by an independent evaluator. The secretariat of the SSNED was commissioned by the World Bank to draw up the way forward based on the independent evaluation findings to propose changes in the Network’s Statute and its Work Programme. The Secretariat was also requested to draw up a Manual of Working Procedures. The revised statute is available at: 2 Projects in the pipeline 3 Members of SSNED 4 Eligibility for mem4 bership of the SSNED What’s in this edition? This newsletter covers the period of February 2012 to September 2012. Training workshops for 2012 www.ssned.org/statute and the updated Work Programme is available at: www.ssned.org/ workprog As usual, the administrative and financial reports were presented at the meeting. These are available online at: http://ssned.org/ tenth_bot_meeting (password protected). Samoa was appointed Chair of the Board of Trustees while Mauritius was appointed ViceChair. The Chair and the Vice-Chair of the Board are elected by the Board itself, for a period of two years, from among the representatives on a rotating regional basis. During the meeting it was agreed that the secretariat should step up its efforts to attract funds. Project that could be 4 funded by the SSNED Issue 8, September 2012 Page 2 Twinning projects in 2012 The SSNED funded a twinning project with the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Land Transport & Shipping (MPILTS) in Mauritius as beneficiary institution and Singapore Land Transport Authority as service provider. Additionally, public officials from the beneficiary institution visited the service provider to receive hands-on training on the institutional set-up in Singapore, where the service provider operates. Beneficiary Institution Theme Service Provider Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Land Transport and Shipping, Mauritius Developing Strategic Directions for the Mauritius Land Transport Authority Singapore Land Transport Authority Mauritius officials and Senior Management Staff at the Singapore Land Transport Authority offices. Training workshops in 2012 The SSNED organized and funded four workshops for implementation in 2012. The funds mostly originated from the DGF of the World Bank. Below is a list of training workshops organized in 2012. Details about these workshops are available at:http://www.ssned.org/ workshops. Beneficiaries Theme Venue Target date Pacific Island States Milestone Judgments in Competition Law Australia 10-11 May 2012 Caribbean Small States Milestone Judgments in Competition Law Barbados 30-31 July 2012 Lesotho Students and Stakeholders Multidisciplinary Climate Change Adaptation Studies Lesotho 18-20 July 2012 African and Indian Ocean Small States Milestone Judgments in Competition Law Mauritius 24-25 Sept Participants and resource persons who attended the training workshop on competition caselaw in Barbados on 30-31 July 2012. The Participants were judges and senior public officials from the Caribbean small states. Participants and resource persons who attended the training workshop on competition case-law in Mauritius on 24-25 September 2012. The Participants were judges and senior public officials from African small states. Page 3 Issue 8, September 2012 PROJECTS IN 2012 Participants at the workshop on “Best Practices and Innovative Ideas in Multidisciplinary Climate Change Adaptation Strategies” held in the National University of Lesotho in Roma, Lesotho, 18 -20 July 2012. TWINNING PROJECTS AND TRAINING WORKSHOPS IN THE PIPELINE The SSNED periodically receives requests for support in the organisation of twinning projects and training workshops. The projects below could be organised subject to funding. The Network is currently looking for funds for this purpose. Twinning Projects Beneficiary State Belize Swaziland Tonga Beneficiary Institution Theme Possible Service Provider Ministry for the Public Service, Governance Improvements and Boundaries Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority Developing a National ICT Policy for Belize COMNET – IT, Malta Developing a Competitiveness Strategy for Swaziland TBA Tonga Post Limited Postal Counter Automation Barbados Postal Services Training Workshops Host Country Fiji Jamaica Gambia Trinidad & Tobago Seychelles Beneficiaries Serving and potential judges operating in the Asian and Pacific small states Serving and potential judges operating in the Caribbean small states Theme Training of Pacific judges on competition law and policy Host Institution Fiji National University Training of small states’ judges on competition law and policy in the Caribbean region Jamaica Fair Trading Commission Serving and potential judges operating in the African small states Public officials operating in the Caribbean small states Training of African judges on competition law and policy Sustainable development strategies for Caribbean small states Public officials operating in the African small states Sustainable development strategies for African small states Gambia Competition Commission Sustainable Economic Development Unit (SEDU) Seychelles Institute of Management Small States Network for Economic Development Page 3 The map shows the members and the location of members of the SSNED. According to the statute of the SSNED, Sovereign small states with a population of 1.5 million or less are eligible to join the Network as Members, subject to agreement of the majority of the Founding Members. In special Membership of SSNED The conditions for membership in the Network are specified in Article 7 of the Statute of the Network. There is no financial obligation to join the Network as member. However membership is to be signified by a formal communication sent to the Network from an appropriate government representative. The notification template is available at www.ssned.org/memberform. As of September 2012, 37 small states have joined the network. Kindly visit http:// ssned.org/membership for additional information on membership. Projects that could be funded by the SSNED Training workshops: Small states members of the SSNED can submit proposals to the SSNED secretariat for funded workshops. The themes could include any aspect of economic and environmental governance. The total funding requested from SSNED would cover cost of travel, accommodation, and a modest diem for about 20 trainees and 5 resource persons. The first step that should be taken by a small state wishing to avail itself of such funding is to express interest in a training workshop by filling in the TR1 form available at: http://www.ssned.org/information_workshops. Forms should be filled in by a high-ranking public official operating in the institution that is requesting assistance More information on requesting funds for training workshops is available at http://ssned.org/workshops. A training workshop in progress. Professor William Kovacic, talking about market dominance during the Mauritius training workshop on competition case-law. The workshops of the SSNED utilized the services of resourcepersons of international repute. Twinning Projects: Small states members of the SSNED can submit proposals for twinning projects, where a small state with mature institutional set-ups helps another small state in institutional and human resources development. The first step for a small state wishing to avail itself of such funding is to express interest in a twinning project by filling in the TW1 form available at http://ssned.org/interesttwinning-proj. Forms should be filled in by a high-ranking public official operating in the institution that is requesting assistance. All correspondence should be addressed to the SSNED administrator on admin@ssned.org. More information on funded twinning projects is available on http://ssned.org/twinning-proj. circumstances, sovereign states with a population of more than 1.5 million which share common interests with small states may be allowed to join the Network as Members. Small nonsovereign jurisdictions and international/ regional organisations with membership consisting mainly of small states may join the Network as non-voting associate. A donor country or an organisation can become a Partner of the Network. Small States Network for Economic Development Annex, Central Bank of Malta Pope Pius V Str, Castille Place Valletta VLT 1060 Malta. Phone: (356)-2122-3525 Fax: (356)-2122-8504 E-mail: admin@ssned.org Website: www.ssned.org Previous editions of this Newsletter are available at http://www.ssned.org/news