To support MENA countries in their efforts to ramp up the competitiveness of their economies, OECD, ITCEQ (the Tunisian Institute for Competitiveness and Quantitative Economics) together with representatives of national competitiveness councils from 11 MENA countries and partnering international organisations (African Development Bank, European Investment Bank and the World Bank) jointly launched a new MENA Centre for Competitiveness on 31 March in Tunis, Tunisia.

The keynote speech was delivered by Declan Hughes, Head of the Competitiveness Division of the Irish National Competitiveness Council, who presented the Irish experience with measuring competitiveness and providing policy-makers with advice on ways to improve national competitiveness. Five MENA countries presented their national approaches to competitiveness.

The Centre’s key objectives will be to assist countries in sharing and harmonising competitiveness policies and approaches, build skills through workshops and training activities, and facilitate access to information related to competitiveness. The Centre will be governed by an Advisory Board consisting of representatives from all member countries and participating international organisations.

Its key deliverables will be a yearly MENA Report on Policies for Sustainable Competitiveness; Tanafusiya (Arabic for Competitiveness), a unified database of indicators related to competitiveness; and a programme of training sessions related to competitiveness measurement. 

The MENA Report on Policies for Sustainable Competitiveness is a yearly report providing a unified framework for assessing the competitiveness of MENA countries in a harmonised format, comprising input dimensions as well as competitiveness performance measures. The focus of the report will be on providing key insights to policy-makers on relevant policy inputs and their probable impact on performance variables  and ultimately on sustainable growth and welfare of the population in the long-term. It will provide a basis for comparison along these dimensions and foster the sharing of best practices and mutual help.

The Tanafusiya database will become a repository for all relevant data concerning competitiveness in the region, centralising data that is already available in various databases (such as OECD, World Bank, UN, national sources etc.) as well as primary data which is to be collected from surveys, and which will bring an additional value-added in understanding competitiveness.

The Training Programme will deal with the methodology of measurement of dimensions which are insufficiently covered and where no harmonisation exists. Experts from OECD countries will help bring cutting edge know-how in these areas and transfer their knowledge to the Centre members and trainees.

 

Meeting Documentation

• Agenda (Eng / Fre)
• List of participants
• Keynote Address “Ireland’s Experience with Measuring and Benchmarking Competitiveness”
  by Declan Hughes, Head, Competitiveness Division, Forfás and Secretariat National Competitiveness Council

 

Presentations

Session 1: Sustainable competitiveness – a concept to be defined?

• Ireland’s Experience with Measuring and Benchmarking Competitiveness 
  by Mr. Declan Hughes, Head, Competitiveness Division, Forfás  & Secretariat, National Competitiveness Council

 

Session 2: Measuring Competitiveness in MENA: an overview of current national approaches

• The Tunisian experience 
  by Mr. H’mida KHLIFI – Executive Director, Tunisian National Competitiveness Observatory
• The Egyptian experience
  by Dr. Mona AL BARADEI – Executive Director, Egyptian National Competitiveness Centre
• The Morrocan experience
  by Mr.  Mohamed BENAYAD – Secretary-General, National Foreign Trade Council, Morocco
• The Jordanian experience
  by Mrs. Kawthar A. AL-ZO'UBI – Prime Researcher, Jordan National Competitiveness Observatory
  

Session 3:  Measuring sustainable competitiveness in MENA: a proposed regional approach

• The MENA Report on Policies for Sustainable Competitiveness – proposed framework and roadmap 
  by Mr. Alan PAIC – Project Manager, Private Sector Development Division, and Mr. Antonio FANELLI – Deputy-Head of Private Sector Development Division, OECD
• Development of OECD Competitiveness Indicators Platform
  by Mr. Eun-Pyo HONG Head, Labour Statistics and Competitiveness Indicators Unit, Statistics Directorate/OECD
  

 

Session 4: Moving ahead with the regional programme of work on competitiveness.

• The MENA Centre for Competitiveness 
  by Mr. Saïd KECHIDA – Policy Analyst, Private Sector Development Division, OECD.