Brussels, 31/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced that a research symposium will be held at its headquarters on Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 June, in liaison with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), in order to take stock of aid to the Mediterranean-Middle East region and to list the challenges encountered.
The EBRD “has become part of the international response” to the uprisings that started in 2011. It reiterates its commitment in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia since this date. “When the waves of political change swept the Arab world a little over five years ago, the objective of the international community was to propose solid economic support to a new generation of people demanding improvement of their everyday life”.
As regards the challenges, the EBRD considers that “a number of difficulties that the countries of the MENA region are currently coming up against are situated well outside the control of the countries themselves”. The reason is the slowdown in growth worldwide, “sluggish global trade and volatile financial flows”, in addition to the impact of terrorist attacks and of refugees from war-torn countries. Some of the debates from the symposium (the introductory sessions) will be available on YouTube. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)