This issue of Economic Cooperation and Development Review includes articles by Ms. Margareta Wahlström, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Mr. Jean-Marie Paugam, Former Deputy Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (ITC). In her article titled “Leading to A Safer Future: The Post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction”, Ms. Wahlström highlights the progress made in disaster risk reduction around the globe during the last four decades. In particular, she highlights the achievements made by some OIC countries and challenges faced them in implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action. She also provides various views on the post-Hyogo disaster risk reduction framework to strengthen the resilience of communities to all hazards. In his article titled “Regional Integration in the League of Arab States: Opportunities for Trade and Employment”, Mr. Paugam evaluates the current status and future potential of the regional trade integration among the member countries of the League of Arab States (LAS). Mr. Paugam indicated that despite on-going efforts to cut tariffs and to sign and implement preferential agreements, regional trade integration among LAS countries is still moderate (11%) compared to other common markets, such as the European Union. He argued that non-tariff measures continue to be the main reason behind the low intra-regional trade shares. Another major challenge within the LAS region is high unemployment, especially among the youth, where finding new export opportunities for companies is one possible way to create jobs.

SESRIC also contributes with two recent reports, namely: (1) Private Participation in Infrastructure in OIC Countries; and (2) Output Gaps and Inflation in OIC Countries. The first report analyses the tendency of private participation in infrastructure in 49 OIC member countries between 1990 and 2011 and compares the position of OIC countries with non-OIC developing countries to make assessments on the number of projects, total investments and deal types. The second report presents evidence on the relationship between inflation and output gap for a group of 56 OIC member countries for the period 1980-2011. The report investigates whether the degree of excess capacity in the economy is an important determinant of inflation. The output gap estimates are calculated at country and group levels based on the different classifications of monetary policy frameworks, namely: exchange rate anchor; monetary aggregate target; and inflation-targeting framework.

Online Electronic Version

Economic Cooperation and Development Review Vol.6 No.2 (English)