2006 Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE)

Tokyo 2006 - May 29-30, at Mita House

 

Thanks to the support of the Japanese Ministry of Finance, the ABCDE will be held for the first time in Japan on May 29-30, 2006 at Mita House in Tokyo.

 

The overall theme of the conference will be “Infrastructure and Development” and will address several major topics related to infrastructure and growth, climate change, energy efficiency, rural development, agriculture and the implications for regional cooperation.

 

The conference will feature research papers on the following four topics, as well as working sessions:

1.       Infrastructure and growth

2.       Infrastructure and sustainable development: climate change, clean energy, and energy efficiency

3.       Rural infrastructure and agricultural development

4.       Infrastructure and regional cooperation

 

The ABCDE is one of the world's best known series of conferences on development, and an opportunity for many of the world's finest development thinkers to present their ideas.

 

History

The concept of the ABCDE was developed by the World Bank in 1988  and the first conference was held at World Bank headquarters in Washington D.C in the same year. Since then, ABCDE has become an annual event, attracting a broad audience each year. In 1999, the first ABCDE-Europe took place in Paris, acknowledging Europe's significant experience in development and poverty eradication and its major role in providing development assistance. Since 2003, the World Bank organizes two ABCDE conferences every year, one global ABCDE - the next one to be held in Tokyo, Japan, in May 2006 - and a regional ABCDE, the next being held in Saint Petersburg, Russia in January 2006.

 

Profile

Over the past few years, the conference has been closely linked to the international agenda, offering a platform of exchange and contributing ideas on the G8 Summit, the European Union Presidency and other global events.
Throughout the years, the ABCDE has brought together researchers, policy makers, students, private sector and NGO representatives, and prominent leaders from all over the world, among them: the Prime Ministers of France, Belgium and Norway, the President of the EU Commission, Ministers, EU Commissioners, Nobel Prize laureates for economics, outstanding business leaders and representatives of civil society.