Building Skills to Improve Public Procurement in Europe and Central Asia (ECA)

Public procurement can make up as much as 30 percent of a country’s total budget and can account for as much as 15 to 20 percent of GDP. Streamlining public procurement processes strengthens a country’s economy and helps achieve its development goals. In many countries, weak institutional, legal, and regulatory frameworks, combined with a limited capacity to promote reforms, has led to significant inefficiencies and waste in public procurement—possibly the public administration function most vulnerable to corruption.

Seeing an opportunity to address an important development capacity need, the World Bank organized the first Central Asian Regional Public Procurement Forum in 2005 where government officials could learn about and discuss important issues in public procurement, as well as increase the capacity of countries to implement good procurement practices. “The environment was very prone to complaints and corruption,” said Devesh Mishra, Procurement Manager in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. While Central Asian countries had followed public procurement laws drafted in line with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) model law, “in most cases, the laws existed only on paper and were not put into practice.”

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Theme: Measuring Performance of Public Procurement

The main objective of the Platform is to provide an opportunity to public procurement institutions from participating countries to share their experiences and practices in public procurement reforms, with a special focus on measuring performance of public procurement. In addition, it will also give participants the opportunity to explore and strengthen ways and means of regional cooperation in this area and to seek active involvement of international and bilateral donors in the efforts of the governments in further improving the transparency, economy and efficiency of public expenditure.

The Platform will be attended this year by about 85 people. This will include about 48 high level government officials responsible for public procurement in 22 countries (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyz, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan) and representatives from the Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Islamic Development Bank, EU, SIGMA, EIB, OECD, WTO, the World Bank and others. In addition to presentations by participants and donors, speakers from Italy and Netherlands will make presentations.

The 10th Public Procurement Exchange Platform will be hosted by the Public Procurement Authority of Republic of Turkey and co-sponsored by the Asian Development Bank, European Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and the World Bank and in cooperation with SIGMA and EIB.

Logistics

Tickets for Country Delegates:  The air tickets for Country Delegates will be arranged through the help of World Bank field staff. Country delegates are requested to make sure that their travel request has been prepared and approved by their World Bank contact person. The permissible class for travel is “economy”. An approved trip request will also help in processing the reimbursement requests, if any.

Transportation and Visa Fees: Participants are responsible for obtaining Visas and their transportation from/to airport in Istanbul. Please keep receipts to claim reimbursement through the help of the World Bank Country office. The airport transfer fee at Hilton Hotel range from Euro 25 to 30 depending on the pickup time (one way) and it is approximately 20 minute ride to the hotel. There are ATMs and exchange offices at the airport and in the streets. The taxis do not accept credit cards. Please note that it was announced that the visa on arrival will no longer be available as of 10 April 2014, however, this option is still available for nationals of certain Countries.  Please verify with your local consulate and start Turkish visa processing as quickly as possible to avoid last minute hassle.

 http://www.mfa.gov.tr/visa-information-for-foreigners.en.mfa

https://www.evisa.gov.tr/en/tour/

Accommodation: The Hilton Hotel is the place for accommodation and venue for 10th Public Procurement Exchange Platform.  Hotel bookings for all confirmed country delegates are arranged. The special negotiated single room rate includes breakfast, internet connection and will be paid by the sponsors for only the country delegates (maximum two participants from each country) from the 22 participating countries. Check-in time is 15:00 p.m. Hotel rooms will be ready from the previous night for early check-ins.  All extras (phone, mini-bar etc.) should be paid by the participants during the check-out. At the check-in time, you will have to provide a debit, credit or cash as an advance payment meant as a guarantee for expenses not covered by the Sponsors. 

Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus

Cumhuriyet Caddesi Harbiye, Istanbul, 34367, Turkey

Tel: 90-212-315-6000
Fax: 90-212-240-4165

Lunch, coffee breaks and Dinners: All lunches, coffee breaks, two formal dinners and a social event will be arranged. One dinner and the social event will be hosted and organized by Public Procurement Authority of Republic of Turkey. The lunches and coffee breaks as well as one dinner will be paid by the sponsors for all participants.

Payment of Per Diem to Delegates:  There will be no per diem payable to any Country Delegate. However, on the basis of actual receipts, the World Bank may process the reimbursement of Lunch and Dinner expenses for the full or part of the day not covered by Host and Sponsors. The full day reimbursement request shall not exceed US$60.

Currency: The local currency is Turkish Lira (TRY). You could exchange money at the airport, in the hotels, at the banks or exchange offices in the streets. The exchange rate as of today is approximately:

1 EUR = 3.07 TRY
1 USD = 2.23 TRY

Weather: The temperature expected to be around 22° Celsius during the day and 13° Celsius at night

Translation Services: English-Russian-Turkish translation will be provided for the whole period of the Event.

For any information on the Event, you may contact the Event coordinator: Mr. Majed M. El-Bayya, Lead Procurement Specialist--World Bank at (mbayya@worldbank.org).