Partners for Development

¿¿the world is changing and so should the region. After decades of state domination of economic activity, many governments around the world are relying increasingly on the private sector to foster economic growth.¿ There is a growing consensus that the time has come for governments and private sector leaders of the Middle East and North Africa to forge a new partnership for development. However, the question is: what kind of partnership should the two parties seek in order to ensure sustainable economic development? This volume attempts to address this question. To make the investigation tractable, the papers deal with four key facets of the government-private sector interface: the business environment, privatization, infrastructure, and two activities that induce transaction costs, tax administration and government procurement. The volume derives its content from papers on the theme of public-private partnerships discussed at the second Mediterranean Development Forum (MDF2) held in Marrackech, Morocco on September 3-6, 1998. The papers presented here are intended to contribute to the ongoing debate on the development opportunities and challenges facing the countries in the Middle East and North Africa.