Leading international experts and thinkers will identify and discuss innovative approaches to development, applying the concept of regional “public goods,” at a conference that will take place at the Washington, D.C, headquarters of the Inter-American Development Bank Nov. 6-7.
Titled “Regional Public Goods and Regional Development Assistance,” the forum was organized by the IDB and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The first session will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the IDB’s Andrés Bello Auditorium, 1300 New York Ave., N.W., ninth floor.
Participants will examine the role of regional public goods and international organizations in the solution of a growing number of transnational challenges for Pacific Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, such as communicable diseases, trade friction, financial panic and social crises, security and stability and natural disasters.
The conference will create a forum for members of diverse multilateral development institutions and representatives of government agencies, the business community, academia, and civil society organizations to discuss experiences and proposals.
The meeting will be divided into five sessions focusing on donor institutional perspectives, conceptual issues, regional experiences and operational dimensions, sector analyses and regional cooperation initiatives.
The executive director for Croatia, Slovenia, Japan and Portugal at the IDB, Yoshihisa Ueda, and the manager of the IDB Integration and Regional Programs Department, Nohra Rey de Marulanda, will open the sessions. Distinguished speakers will include Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, now a professor at Columbia University. IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias will close the meeting on Nov. 7 at 5 p.m.
The conference will be held following an agreement signed by the IDB and the ADB, under the framework of the IDB’s Japan Program.