“Challenges and Future Perspectives of Water Resources Management: Cases from Middle East/North Africa and Asia”was the theme of a World Bank Public Seminar held on June 27, 2006, allowing Bank experts to present their findings to specialists in the field from government, development agencies, the private sector and NGOs. Organized by the World Bank Tokyo Office and Japan Water Forum, the seminar connected Tokyo, Cairo and Beijing via the GDLN to incorporate various perspectives, including comments from Dr.Mahmoud A. Abu-Zeid, Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation.
See full story for video of presentations.
In an effort to resolve the human trafficking issue in Asia, about 40 members of NGOs and government officials working in Japan and the Philippines connected via the GDLN on June 22, 2006 for a cross-border dialogue on victim protection and Japan’s role as a destination country. Organized by the Asia Foundation, the event was the first in a series of dialogues scheduled for this year to foster a better understanding of the mechanism of victim protection, repatriation and rehabilitation.
Mainstreaming gender into development activities was the focus of discussions at the first distance seminar for Japan’s ODA Task Force held this fiscal year, on June 21, 2006. Connecting the TDLC with Kenya, Thailand and Pakistan, members of each country’s Task Force, including Japanese Embassy, JICA and JETRO staff, participated to share their experiences and exchanged opinions with speakers in Tokyo. The series is organized by the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID).
The winners have just been announced in the inaugural Web for Development Awards, and the TDLC is very pleased to congratulate our colleagues at the Asian Development Bank Institute whose site was awarded honorable mention and a $3,000 prize.
In an event leading up to the G8 Summit to be held in Russia in July, Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) from 7 G8 countries participated in an information exchange session via videoconference on June 7, 2006.
The TDLC received President Festus Gontebanye Mogae of the Republic of Botswana on June 7, 2006, on the occasion of the “Meeting on Infrastructure Development for Small Economies through Public Private Partnerships (PPP) - The Case of Botswana”. Jointly hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of Botswana and the World Bank Group with support from the United Nations University (UNU), the TDLC connected speakers from Pretoria, Johannesburg and Helsinki in addition to over 50 participants in Tokyo who joined the President for a productive roundtable discussion moderated by Dr. Hans van Ginkel, UNU Rector.
The International Recovery Platform (IRP) held its second Steering Committee meeting at the TDLC on June 1, 2006, connecting International Labour Organization (ILO) Headquarters in Geneva, The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome to Tokyo via videoconference.
