The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) was first held in 1993, and until 2013, 5 conferences were held in Tokyo and Yokohama every five years. TICAD VI, co-hosted by the Government of Japan, the World Bank Group, the United Nations, United Nations Development Programme, and the African Union Commission (AUC) was, for the first time, held in Africa last year. In preparation for TICAD VI, the World Bank Tokyo Office conducted eight seminars in the TICAD Seminar Series till July 2016 to discuss challenges and perspectives of TICAD and African countries. Toward TICAD VII in 2019, we will continue organizing the Seminar Series mainly for Japanese private sector looking into business opportunities in Africa.
This seminar featured one of the World Bank Group’s flagship reports “Doing Business” which provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 190 economies and selected cities, focusing on the key findings in its newest edition, related to Africa region.
Program
Opening Remarks
Yasusuke Tsukagoshi, Special Representative, Japan, World Bank Group
Presentation
Rita Ramalho, Manager of the World Bank-IFC Doing Business
(via video-conference from Washington, D.C.)
Magda Konidari, Analyst, and Jean Arlet, Operational Analyst, Doing Business Team, World Bank Group (via video-conference from Kuala Lumpur)
Presentation Material: Doing Business 2017 - Equal Opportunity for All Sub-Saharan Africa - (PDF)
Comment
Shin Oya, Deputy Director General, Policy and Strategy Office for Financial Operations, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)
Keiichi Shirato, Chief Analyst, Mitsui Global Strategic Studies Institute
Speaker
Rita Ramalho is the Manager of the World Bank-IFC Doing Business. Previously Rita Ramalho was the program manager of World Bank-IFC Enterprise Surveys and Women, Business and the Law project. Enterprise Surveys provide the world's most comprehensive company-level data for emerging markets and developing economies. Enterprise Surveys data are available on more than 120,000 firms in 125 countries. The data are used to create indicators that benchmark the quality of the business and investment climate across countries from the perspective of both female and male entrepreneurs. Women, Business and the Law presents indicators based on laws and regulations affecting women's prospects as entrepreneurs and employees, drawing in part on laws contained in the Gender Law Library. The data can inform research and policy discussions on how to improve women's economic opportunities and outcomes. Rita Ramalho holds a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her previous research focused on the impact of regulation on economic variables such as growth, where she found that better business regulations can lead to more growth. Currently she is researching the impact of regulations on female labor force participation, tax policy and entrepreneurship, labor regulations, and the size of the informal sector. She speaks Portuguese and is conversant in Spanish. |
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