SMALL STATES NETWORK
FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (SSNED)
NEWSLETTER No. 2
March-October 2009
This Newsletter is being sent to all
Points of Contact of the SSNED Member States and
other interested persons
Annex, Central Bank of Malta, Pope Pius V Street, Valletta, VLT 1060, Malta
Tel: +356 2122-3525; +356 9926-2141; Fax: +356 2122-8504; Email: admin@ssned.org; Website: www.ssned.org
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CONTENTS
1.
2.
3.
4.
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 3
SECRETARIAT ...................................................................................................................... 3
MEMBERSHIP ....................................................................................................................... 3
COMPLETED, ONGOING AND PROPOSED PROJECTS ............................................. 3
4.1 Completed Projects .............................................................................................................. 3
4.2 Ongoing Projects
4.3 Requests for Projects ............................................................................................................ 5
4.3.1 Requests for Twinning Projects .................................................................................. 5
4.3.2 Request for Training Workshops ................................................................................ 5
5. COLLABORATION WITH OTHER ORGANISATIONS ................................................. 6
5.1 Small Countries Financial Management Programme.......................................................... 6
5.2. Collaboration with DFID .................................................................................................... 6
6. LEGAL STATUS OF THE SSNED ....................................................................................... 6
7. SSNED WEBSITE AND BROCHURE ................................................................................. 7
8. STAGIARE .............................................................................................................................. 7
9. AUDITED ACCOUNTS FOR 2008 ....................................................................................... 7
10. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................ 7
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1.
INTRODUCTION
This newsletter covers the period 1st March to 31st October 2009. During this period, the
Secretariat concluded 3 twinning projects and 3 training workshops. The Secretariat also
received many requests for funding twinning projects and training workshops.
2. SECRETARIAT
The secretariat consists of one full-time administrator (Mr David Pulis) and a part-time assistant
administrator (Ms Maryrose Vella), both of whom were engaged in January 2009. Professor Lino
Briguglio acts as Director-General on a part-time basis. Given the load of work in conducting
projects, the secretariat is somewhat understaffed, but the funding available does not permit
engagement of more personnel.
3. MEMBERSHIP
The Network has 31 member countries (the list is available at: http://www.ssned.org/membersnetwork). All members of the Network can apply for funds to conduct capacity building projects.
Eligibility to join the Network is explained in Article 7 of the Network‟s statue (available at:
http://www.ssned.org/statute ).
4. COMPLETED, ONGOING AND PROPOSED PROJECTS
4.1 Completed Projects
The Network has completed 3 Twinning projects and 3 Training Workshops as shown in the
following two tables. Summaries of the projects are available at the Network website as
indicated in the tables.
4.1.1 Completed Twinning Projects
The completed twinning projects are:
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Beneficiary Beneficiary Institution
State
Seychelles Ministry of Education
St Lucia
Malta
Theme
Service provider
Development of e-learning. Summary
Virtual Centre for
available at:
Innovative Learning
http://www.ssned.org/ongoing-twinning-proj Technologies of the
University of
Mauritius
Development of e-Government. Summary
Malta Information
available at:
Technology Agency
http://www.ssned.org/ongoing-twinning-proj
Ministry of the Public
Service,
Human Resource
Development
Ministry of Infrastructure Public Transport Regulation
Land Transport
Transport
Summary available at:
Authority of
and Communications
http://www.ssned.org/ongoing-twinning-proj Singapore
The contracts for these twinning projects were drawn up in collaboration with the respective
governments and service providers. The contracts contained a main document with special
provisions relating to the project, plus 7 Annexes, three of which are (i) general conditions for
twinning projects (ii) the Terms of Reference for a particular project and (iii) the budget for a
particular project. The other four annexes to the contract are administrative templates.
(Templates relating to the twinning contract and its annexes are available at
http://www.ssned.org/twinning_contract_annexes). The budgets were agreed upon by both the
beneficiary state and the service provider, and closely vetted by the Secretariat to ensure that
they yield value for money.
4.1.2 Completed Training Workshops
The completed training workshops are:
Theme
Service provider
Beneficiaries
Caribbean, Indian Sustainable Development Strategies for small states. Islands and Small States Institute
Ocean African and Held in Malta between 16 and 21 March 2009.
of the University of Malta
Pacific Small
Summary available at:
States
http://www.ssned.org/completed_workshop
Pacific Small
Climate Change Adaptation in the Pacific Region. Pacific Centre for Environment and
States
Held in Fiji between 4 and 15 May 2009.
Sustainable
Development
Summary available at:
University of the South Pacific
http://www.ssned.org/completed_workshop
Caribbean Small Competition Law and Policy Workshop in the Shiradath Ramphal Centre at the
States
Caribbean Small States
University of the West Indies
Held in Barbados between 26 and 27 October 2009.
Information available at:
http://www.ssned.org/completed_workshop
The contracts for these training workshops were drawn up in collaboration with the respective
Beneficiary Institution. (Templates relating to the training workshop contract and its annexes are
available at http://www.ssned.org/workshop_contract_annexes ).
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4.2 Ongoing Projects
4.2.1 Ongoing Twinning Projects
The following two projects are currently being undertaken by the Network.
Theme
Beneficiary
Institution
Gambia
Gambia Competition Development of
Commission
Strategic Directions
for Competition
Commission
St Vincent & St Vincent & the Postal Counter
the Grenadines Grenadines Postal Automation.
Corporation
Beneficiary
Service provider
Cyprus Institute for Mediterranean, European
and International Studies (KIMEDE) Cyprus
Commission for the Protection of
Competition
Barbados Postal Corporation
4.3 Requests for Projects
4.3.1 Requests for Twinning Projects
Expressions of interest for twinning projects have been received by the SSNED secretariat from
different small states and these are being evaluated and prioritised. The themes include:
Communications Framework
Competition Law and Policy
Competitiveness Strategy
Country Profiles re Vulnerability and Resilience Building
Developing E-Government
Development of Revenue Policy
Disaster Management
Land Transport Strategy
Postal Services
Small Business Development
Statistics Department Capacity Building
Tax Administration
4.3.2 Requests for Training Workshops
The secretariat is also evaluating proposals for training workshops of the following themes:
“Competitiveness Strategies and Capacity Building with special reference to the African
and Indian Ocean Small States”
“Demographic aspects of development in the Pacific region”.
“Competition Law and Policy in African Small States”
“Competition Law and Policy in Pacific Island Countries”
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5. COLLABORATION WITH OTHER ORGANISATIONS
5.1 Small Countries Financial Management Programme
The Network collaborated with the Government of the Isle of Man, the World Bank and the
University of Oxford in the organization of a high-profile workshop intended to help small
countries respond to the global financial crisis. The Workshop, funded by the Isle of Man
Government, and designed and run by Oxford University‟s Saïd Business School, was held
between 6 and 18 September. The venue for the first 9 days was the University Centre on the
Isle of Man. The sessions on the last three days were held at the Saïd Business School in Oxford.
The participants were senior officials of central banks, finance ministries and regulatory bodies
from 25 small countries around the world. The topics covered included: new approaches to risk
management and regulation; regulatory collaboration; tax policy and transparency; debt and cash
management; budgeting and medium-term expenditure frameworks; and anti-money
laundering/countering the financing of terrorism. More information is available at:
http://www.gov.im/lib/docs/treasury/scfm/smallcountriesfinancialmanagement.pdf .
5.2 Collaboration with DFID
The Director-General of the Network visited the Head Offices of Department for International
Development (DFID) in London. DFID is currently leading the British Government's fight
against world poverty, and is promoting Competition Law and Policy in Africa. The DFID has
launched a White Paper on international development, which is available at
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Documents/whitepaper/building-our-common-future-print.pdf.
In it
DFID set out its commitment to support an Africa Competition Forum (para 2.61). The SSNED
was invited to be associated with this initiative, following a meeting that the Director-General of
SSNED had with Mr Roger Nellist, who heads the Growth and Investment Group of DFID.
6. LEGAL STATUS OF THE SSNED
The Secretariat had various discussions with the legal advisors regarding the legal status of the
Network. Currently the SSNED is registered by a deed as evidence of existence and therefore
has legal personality.
The SSNED can be registered as an International Organisation in terms of 2nd schedule of the
Civil Code (Laws of Malta: Chapter 16 – Title I, Subtitle II). However the SSNED secretariat
was advised by its lawyers that the law has not come into effect yet. The SSNED secretariat was
also advised that if the SSNED applies for such a status it will be the first one to do so and it can
kick-start the process.
The SSNED can apply to be considered as an International Organisation in terms of the
Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act (Laws of Malta: Chapter 191, Part III). The
Secretariat was advised that this is the best route to take. The Secretariat wrote to the Ministry
Foreign Affairs in this regard, who in turn sent the request to the Attorney General for his advice.
Up to the date of writing this report, the Network had not received a reply.
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7. SSNED WEBSITE AND BROCHURE
The SSNED website (www.ssned.org) continued to be developed, with updated information
about the projects undertaken by the Network. The secretariat is drawing up a directory of
experts so that it can be placed on the SSNED website.
The Network has also commissioned the design of a brochure to publicize its activities and make
itself known more widely. A draft copy of the brochure is available at
http://www.ssned.org/background.
8. STAGIARE
Ms Daria Kuznetsova, who is a student at the London School of Economics, worked at the
Network offices for two weeks in August 2009 as a Stagiare. This arrangement was beneficial to
the Network as Ms Kuznetsova assisted Mr David Pulis during a time when Ms Maryrose Vella
was away. At the same time, Ms Kuznetsova acquired experience in the coordination of projects.
She expressed her intention to work again for the Network during the summer of 2010.
9. AUDITED ACCOUNTS FOR 2008
According to the letter dated 30 January 2008, sent to the Central Bank of Malta by World Bank
Vice President Mr Jeffrey S. Gutman, the SSNED was expected to have its annual financial
statements (for the activities funded by the Grant) audited by independent auditors.
The accounts were audited by Ernst & Young, who considered the accounts kept by the SSNED
as a „true and fair view‟ of the financial transactions of the Network. The auditors, in their report
dated 29 May 2009, stated, amongst other things that the audit evidence they obtained was
sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for their audit opinion. In their opinion the financial
statements gave a true and fair view of the financial position of the Network as of 31 December
2008, and of its financial performance and its cash flows for the period then ended, in
accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards.
10. CONCLUSION
The Network activities have gathered momentum as soon as the work programme was adopted
and a number of projects started to be implemented during the second half of 2008. The Network
has received an encouraging number of requests for projects and this should improve the profile
and the reputation of the network among small states.
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