Intersolar Europe 2013: Cost effective PV Solutions at Display

An increasing number of German companies are investing in renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaics (PV), to provide their own energy supply. The on-site consumption of solar power provides companies and industries with a lucrative alternative to conventionally generated electricity. In addition, cost-effective, flexible mounting systems help to reduce the system costs of PV installations. Intersolar Europe, the world’s largest exhibition for the solar industry, is taking place at Messe München from June 19–21. In various forums and workshops, the exhibition showcases the latest trends and developments in mounting systems for both PV and solar thermal plants. Around 1,500 exhibitors are expected at Intersolar Europe, including more than 100 suppliers who will present their innovative products.

"Nowadays, module costs make up just 60% of the overall price."

In the face of rising electricity prices, more and more companies are generating their own power. The drop in price for solar modules means that photovoltaics (PV) is becoming an alternative to conventionally generated power because it is increasingly cost-efficient and calculable. In 2005, almost 75% of system costs were spent on solar modules. Nowadays, module costs make up just 60% of the overall price. Around half of the remaining costs (40%) for PV installations currently go towards installing the mounting system and buying the materials required. In light of falling module prices, installation systems and their cost-cutting potential are now taking center stage in the production of economical entire systems, with innovative, safe and effective fastening options in high demand.

Flexible mounting systems for PV installations on industrial and commercial roofs

Manufacturers of mounting systems are increasingly striving for simple, yet practical, solutions – for example, flexible solutions that enable each module to be individually aligned. A particular challenge is presented by the structure of commercial roofs, which often cannot support a lot of additional weight. One possible mounting solution is to use affordable substructures made out of fiber glass, because these can be easily transported and assembled as well as installed without penetrating the roof. Innovative mounting systems that allow for an east/west alignment on flat roofs also significantly contribute to reducing electricity production costs. These systems can increase solar power yield by more than 20%.

Innovations for ground-mounted installations and residential buildings

When building large PV ground-mounted installations, the amount of time required is one of the most important factors in calculating installation costs. Simple mounting systems with few main components are designed to help installers to mount the installation quickly, even on uneven land. The same applies for setting up mounting systems on residential buildings. Thanks to user-friendly snap lock systems and the small number of individual components, time and installation costs can be significantly reduced.

Latest mounting systems at Intersolar Europe 2013

The world’s largest exhibition for the solar industry provides forums and workshops that explore topics surrounding innovative mounting systems. At Messe München, over 100 companies showcase technical solutions and products for mounting systems. At the Innovation Exchange, exhibitors present projects they have implemented in a series of presentations on Friday morning, June 21. They are then on hand to provide information to the specialist audience. On June 20, the exhibition workshop PV for Industrial & Commercial Rooftops teaches visitors everything they need to know about practical applications, financing and building regulations for PV systems for commercial and industrial roofs.

www.intersolar.de


Solar Industry in the MENA Region: Sunny Prospects

A trend towards generating electricity from solar power is on the horizon for the countries of the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa); The regional market for photovoltaics (PV) and solar thermal power plants is expected to reach 3.5 GW by 2015. While Saudi Arabia and Turkey are tipped to be the largest investors in PV and solar thermal installations, Egypt and Morocco are also starting to think differently with a move away from fossil fuels and towards solar energy. From June 19–21 at Messe München, Intersolar Europe takes an in-depth look at how the energy policy in this region is changing. In addition, different exhibition and conference events shed light on the prospects for the international solar industry.

The solar industry in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is geared up for growth: By 2015, the regional market for photovoltaics and solar thermal power plants is expected to grow to a total output of 3.5 gigawatts (GW). Saudi Arabia in particular is planning to move away from generating electricity using crude oil in favor of photovoltaics and solar thermal technologies. A study conducted by GTM Research, Boston, USA, puts this development down to high solar irradiation and rising electricity prices and requirements that arise from an increasing population size. By 2017, the expansion of solar energy is expected to exceed a combined output of 10 GW in the MENA region. With a share of 70%, the majority is set to be implemented in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Sunny prospects for solar energy in North Africa

The sun also ranks among the most valuable resources in North African countries. Egypt benefitted from crude oil exports in the 1990s; however, current reductions in yields produced by oil fields and increasing energy subsidies are forcing the Egyptian government to take action. In the financial year 2012/2013, subsidies reportedly account for a quarter of the entire Egyptian state budget. As the largest energy resource in the country, the sun offers an ideal alternative to dwindling oil and gas. Every year, each square meter in Egypt receives more than 2,200 kilowatt hours of solar energy. The Egyptian Solar Energy Development Association (SEDA) in Cairo sees potential application areas for solar energy in the form of solar installations for producing drinking water and intelligent lighting concepts for hotels. In addition to concentrating on tourism, statements from the Egyptian Ministry of Housing reveal that, over the next few years, standard measures will see public housing equipped with solar installations.

"Once completed, the power plant will reach an output of 500 MW."

In Morocco, solar plants with a combined output of 2 GW are set to be installed by 2020, which means that the share of renewable energy in the Moroccan power grid could reach a total of 42%. Alongside solar energy, wind energy and hydropower are also expected to form part of this share. Under the supervision of MASEN (Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy), the construction of a large, impressive project has already begun in the Moroccan province of Ouarzazate, which will be the world’s largest solar thermal power plant. A capacity of 160 megawatts (MW) will be installed in the initial expansion phase alone. Once completed, the power plant will reach an output of 500 MW.

Intersolar Europe 2013 focuses on the solar market in the MENA region

This year sees Intersolar Europe offer several events shedding light on development in the countries of the MENA region. Like last year, Morocco will be represented at the exhibition with its own country pavilion. In addition to promoting interdisciplinary exchange with the countries of that region, various country delegations with high ranking political members allow businesses and visitors to increase their personal contacts. Under the title Global PV Markets: MENA Region, prominent representatives from local industry associations and government institutions speak about current conditions, market developments and prospects for the solar industry in these countries at the Intersolar Europe Conference on June 19, 2013.

In February this year, the PV Briefing & Networking Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, highlighted the solar industry’s great interest in the regional energy policy’s new direction. Under the motto “Saudi Arabia targets 41 GW of solar by 2032 – what does this mean today?”, 15 representatives from politics, research and the solar industry discussed the future of solar energy in the region in front of an audience of around 180 attendees. The event was organized by Intersolar Europe and EuPD Research (Bonn) in collaboration with the Saudi Arabia Solar Industry Association (SASIA) from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as the local partner.

www.intersolar.de


CBI Position on the G8 Tax Agenda

[caption id="attachment_4385" align="alignright" width="256"] Lough Erne Golf Resort in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland[/caption]

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has outlined its position on the G8 tax and transparency agenda. Katja Hall, CBI Chief Policy Director, said: “We encourage the G8 leaders to work together to drive economic growth and support the Prime Minister’s focus on improving tax and transparency.

“It’s understandable that business tax has become a lightning rod in tough economic times but this frequent oversimplification of the debate in public is counterproductive.

“The vast majority of businesses pay the correct amount of tax and rightly manage their tax affairs to respond to government incentives, like R&D credits, losses and one-off payments, like pensions.

“Firms do need to do a better job of explaining their tax affairs, which is why we’re encouraging all companies to follow our tax principles, including implementing narrative reporting.

“The CBI supports a global register of beneficial owners to help improve transparency of companies’ ownership to fight money-laundering and profit shifting to secrecy jurisdictions. We also support the automatic exchange of information between tax authorities.

“Some of the global tax rules were designed in the 70s and 80s and have lost pace with the digital business age, so we need governments to work together through the OECD to update them.

“We do not believe that country-by-country reporting will improve transparency, because it risks reducing public understanding of the tax debate by swamping people in highly complex data with no context.”


CFI Hero Malala and Gordon Brown Fight Back for Children’s Education

[caption id="attachment_4391" align="alignright" width="209"] Malala Yousafzai [/caption]

A 15-year-old Pakistani girl targeted by assassins – Malala Yousafzai – is the first signatory of a new worldwide petition calling for urgent action to ensure the right of every child to safely attend school, launched today with the backing of the United Nations Special Envoy for Education.

The launch came in the wake of an attack that killed 14 students at an all girls' college in Pakistan, emphasized Special Envoy Gordon Brown, in an op-ed published today in the Huffington Post.

“This, the bloodiest atrocity yet in escalating violence against female students, comes eight months after the attempted assassination of Malala and her two friends, Kainat and Shazia, targeted by terrorists just because they wanted to go to school,” Mr. Brown wrote.

“That is why today, in advance of Malala Day on July 12, we are launching our worldwide petition to demand that global leaders ensure 57 million out-of-school girls and boys are given the chance of education,” he said.

Ms. Yousafzai’s appearance at UN Headquarters on 12 July will mark her first major public speech since she was shot last October. She will be joined at the UN by hundreds of young people from around the world.

The petition and the UN event are part of an effort to establish universal primary education by December 2015, the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, a set of anti-poverty targets set by UN Member States in a 2000 summit.

In a statement issued for the petition launch, Ms. Yousafzai said that the terrorists in the attack on the girls’ school, which UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned over the weekend, were “cowards.”

"The innocent girls who died on Saturday have nothing to do with politics and only wanted to empower themselves through education. Obtaining education is every man and woman's birth right and no one is allowed to take away this right from them,” she stressed.

Mr. Brown and Ms. Yousafzai are supporting the initiative of Secretary-General Ban to accelerate progress towards the UN Global Education First Initiative to put every child in school, improve the quality of learning, and foster global citizenship by the end of 2015.

Follow this link to our Autumn 2012 announcement of Malala as one of CFI.co Editor’s Hero: Praying for Our Hero, Malala Yousafzai


Summit Commitments of the G8 Leaders

Extracted from Remarks made by David Cameron on Thursday 18th June.

[caption id="attachment_4403" align="alignright" width="186"] David Cameron[/caption]

Our economies together make up around half of the global economy, and we have a responsibility to support prosperity worldwide. We agreed actions in three specific areas:

Trade - a key engine of global economic growth. We will break down barriers to trade at home and abroad by resisting protectionism and concluding a set of ambitious trade deals. In particular, we welcome the launch of negotiations for an EU-US trade agreement, the major progress towards agreeing the Trans Pacific Partnership and the launch of the EU-Japan trade agreement negotiations and we look forward to the completion of the EU-Canada trade agreement. We aim to finalise all these deals as soon as possible. We also welcome the trade and economic integration of Russia with some of the countries in the region, which will be pursued in line with World Trade Organisation (WTO) principles. We are committed to strengthening the multilateral trading system and securing a WTO deal in December that cuts bureaucracy to make it easier and faster for goods to cross borders. And we will keep our promises to help developing countries slash barriers to trade that impede growth.

"We will break down barriers to trade at home and abroad by resisting protectionism and concluding a set of ambitious trade deals."

Tax systems – essential to fairness and prosperity for all. We commit to establish the automatic exchange of information between tax authorities as the new global standard, and will work with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to develop rapidly a multilateral model which will make it easier for governments to find and punish tax evaders. On tax avoidance, we support the OECD’s work to tackle base erosion and profit shifting. We will work to create a common template for multinationals to report to tax authorities where they make their profits and pay their taxes across the world. We will support developing countries to collect the taxes owed them, with access to the global tax information they need. We agree to publish national Action Plans to make information on who really owns and profits from companies and trusts available to tax collection and law enforcement agencies, for example through central registries of company beneficial ownership.

Transparency – empowering people to hold governments and companies to account. We have agreed a transformative Open Data Charter to make budget data and other government information public in an easily accessible way. We will make progress towards common global reporting standards to make extractive industry payments more transparent. And we will work with resource-rich countries to help them better manage their extractive revenues so as to provide a route out of poverty and reliance on aid.

We will continue to work with the poorest countries to help lift people out of poverty by keeping our aid promises and being accountable to the public for them. We will accelerate efforts to tackle the under-nutrition that blights millions of lives. We will work closely with African governments and citizens to promote sustainable growth.

We share a commitment to work together to counter terrorism and tackle the drivers of instability wherever in the world they are found and particularly in northern Africa and the Middle East. We have identified five priority areas for action to respond to the growing threat posed by terrorists operating in the arc of instability from Mauritania to Somalia. Alongside the countries themselves, we will work together, focussing our collective political and practical support, to help governments find and dismantle terrorist networks and to build effective and accountable government.

We are committed to protecting our nationals and reducing terrorist groups’ access to funding which allows them to thrive. We unequivocally reject the payment of ransoms to terrorists and we call on countries and companies around the world to follow our lead and stamp out this as well as other lucrative sources of income for terrorists. We will help each other to resolve hostage incidents by sharing best practice in advance and offering expertise as necessary when they take place.

We strongly support the proposal for a conference to reach a political solution to the appalling conflict in Syria through full implementation of the 2012 Geneva Communiqué. We will contribute generously to the latest United Nations (UN) appeal for humanitarian help. We condemn in the strongest terms any use of chemical weapons and all human rights violations in Syria.  We are committed to leading international support for Libya’s security and democratic transition and to urgent work for a lasting peace in the Middle East.”


UN calls for China and the US to Encourage Sustainable Development

[caption id="attachment_4415" align="alignright" width="259"] Ban Ki-moon[/caption]

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has  appealed to Chinese and United States-based companies to boost their efforts to achieve sustainable development and prosperity through partnerships, stressing their impact in developing countries.

“US and Chinese companies can and must ensure that business activity is sustainable and responsible – that it upholds the highest standards of business ethics,” Mr. Ban said at the Hong Kong-US Business Council Dialogue in New York.

“I am convinced that principles and profits can go hand-in-hand. Business success requires delivering long-term value – not just financially, but also socially, environmentally and ethically.”

Mr. Ban underlined that Governments alone cannot tackle global development challenges but instead need partnerships with the private sector to make a significant impact. He added that the contribution from the private sector will be even more vital to mobilize the resources, technology and innovation required to achieve as the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches and the post-2015 agenda is set in place.

“Today, our challenge remains clear and urgent: cut greenhouse gas emissions; increase efficiency, rely more on clean energy and provide sustainable energy for all; and reach a global legal climate agreement by 2015,” Mr. Ban said.

He commended US and Chinese companies that have committed to the principles set by the UN Global Compact, and urged them to ensure that they “uphold responsible practices in their strategies, in their supply chains, and in the communities where they operate. Their presence can make a tremendous difference.”

Each company that signs on with the UN Global Compact agrees to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of 10 principles in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption.

Mr. Ban pointed to China’s strong presence in Africa as “an enormous opportunity for growth on the continent,” and called on investors to use their collective influence to help spread commitment for sustainable change.

In particular, he said tackling climate change must be a priority for the private sector, and encouraged US and Chinese companies to engage in the Caring for Climate initiative for business, through which companies can put forward innovations on energy efficiency, renewable energy and finance.

“There should be no more denial, no more deferring action, no more avoiding the tough decisions, no more hoping that a technological silver bullet will save us,” Mr. Ban said. “The private sector will have a central role to play in unlocking clean energy investments.”


WTO’s Lamy: The Deeper European Crisis

Extracts from a speech by World Trade Organisation Director-General Pascal Lamy (The 2013 Brussels Economic Forum Third Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa Lecture on 19 June 2013).

[caption id="attachment_4424" align="alignright" width="229"] DG Pascal Lamy[/caption]

The word “crisis” is not new in the European vocabulary. In fact, history has taught us that European integration has weathered many crises. Some of you in this room will remember De Gaulle and his “empty chair” policy in 1965 and 1966.

With the recent death of Margaret Thatcher, we have been reminded of her fierce drive to reduce the UK’s contribution to the European budget in the 1970s. This led to serious conflict over the financing of Europe which still remains to this day.

In the 1990s, we saw the European Monetary System crisis, which was followed by the demise of the European Commission in 1999. More recently, Europe was shaken by the French and Dutch rejecting the European Constitution in their respective referendums.

But today’s crisis is not just another example of taking one step back to jump three steps forwards. This time, it is an existential crisis. It is a crisis about the pursuit of the very European integration process which started in the 50’s. In fact, we are seeing a triple crisis unfold.

"For the first time in 60 years, the rest of the world is starting to have serious doubts about the solidity of the European project."

First, a crisis in legitimacy. As the recent Eurobarometer and Pew polls show, support for the EU among the public is sharply declining. Part of this stems from the severity of the economic crisis which started in 2008 and which is having a serious impact on many European citizens. But another part results from the perceived “division of labour” between Brussels and European capitals: “austerity” for Brussels and “growth enhancing measures” for the capitals. And all of this comes on top of a longer term disaffection with Europe. Interestingly, these polls also show that Europeans do not want to return to their national currencies. They want the euro and they even accept that changes and reforms are needed. But they are not seeing concrete answers to their concerns.

The second is a crisis in credibility. For the first time in 60 years, the rest of the world is starting to have serious doubts about the solidity of the European project. This has led to an unprecedented process of “re-nationalisation” in the area of international relations. It is as if diplomats in foreign capitals were hedging their position in case there is a break-up of the European Union.

The third is a crisis in the European social model. The social market economy model — Sozialmarktwirtschaft model — which makes the specificity of the European Union recognises that strong social protection systems improve competitiveness. As Olli Rehn well knows, it is not easy to convey this European model to the average Greek or to the average Portuguese or Spaniard today. They want to see this model transformed into concrete measures. In particular, since this crisis hides another one — a crisis in solidarity — the difficulties of the euro have shown that European solidarity mechanisms have not been sufficiently well designed to withstand a shock of the type we have seen since 2008.

The economic crisis in Europe is in reality the backdrop of a wider and deeper European crisis: a crisis in the very soul of European integration.  Pandora’s box has been opened, and voices pleading for the de-construction of the European project are becoming louder.

Is further European integration still the way forward?

But is further European integration the way forward? This is the existential question that Europeans will confront at next year’s European elections. And this is the question that the programmes of the different political groups must answer. European citizens will not care about parties or individuals. They will want to know about today’s European integration project.

Before we answer this question, we should look at the context. The world is becoming ever more globalised and interdependencies are on the rise. We are witnessing a rebalancing in world power, with the rise of emerging countries and the pendulum of power moving east. For the first time in world history, GDP of developing countries in 2012 matched that of developed economies. Furthermore, the growth differential between developed and developing economies is becoming larger. By 2030, the middle class will more than double in size, from 2 billion today to roughly 5 billion. In a nutshell, we are seeing a re-adjustment in strength and influence among countries and regions.

"In this evolving context, one can answer the question about the European project from an economic point of view. What we know is that market size does matter, especially in a market capitalist system in which we live, whether we like it or not."

Europe has a strong advantage: its regional economic integration is the world’s most advanced. In fact, other regions around the world such as the Eastern African Community, the ASEAN, the Eurasian Customs Union and Central America are moving in the direction of further integration. And a number of other regions around the world are also pursuing deeper forms of economic integration through the Trans Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership or the Alliance of the Pacific to name a few.

But Tommaso had a more complex view of the world, which I fully share. He believed that with globalisation, economic and political integration go hand in hand.  Globalisation was not what moved Europe from a common market to an internal market and then to a monetary union. But this is the logic of regional integration in the 21st century. As the current crisis has shown us, we cannot have a monetary union without greater economic integration, and this in turn will inevitably demand closer political ties. This is not an intellectual dream. In my experience, this is simply the imperative stemming from the logic of ever-growing economic interdependence.

Let me try to make this point through the prism of trade. As the report of the stakeholders that I convened last year to look at the future of world trade has recently concluded, our world faces the challenge of convergence.  And convergence of markets today is more and more about identity issues, about values. This is what we see very clearly in regional trade agreements being negotiated, such as the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. It is less and less about tariffs and more and more about how to build common markets. And today this inevitably requires addressing value and culturally charged non-tariff obstacles to market integration.

In sum, while further integration is a necessity, it has also become clear that we cannot think “integration” without thinking “identity”. In other words, integration today goes hand in hand with “values”. And this in turn requires closer political integration. As worldwide political integration remains a very distant horizon, the way forward is regional integration, an area where Europe still leads the way.

Avenues for a closer European integration

Let me briefly mention what I see as the three key areas for closer European integration.

The first one is to regain political energy for the European project and this requires breaking the glass ceiling on legitimacy. Legitimacy has always been a bone of contention in Europe. Today, the exit strategy for the euro crisis requires more stringent disciplines and stronger solidarity, which can only be achieved through greater legitimacy. But I do not think it is about institutional “re-juggling”. I think the problem is one of affection. Europeans simply do not feel that they belong to a community.

We have tried all possible ways of adjusting Montesquieu’s ideas to the needs of Europe. Europe has a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. But this tripod is not enough to create a supra-national political space.

National stereotypes which we thought long forgotten have re-appeared during the crisis. What Romans called “affectio societatis” has proven to be dramatically thin in Europe.

Rebuilding greater affection for the European project will require accepting that there are two sources of political legitimacy — the people and sovereign states — and that both are needed in a federal system.

It will require an institutional system in which the executive can only be a neutral third party (the Commission), a senate of states (the Council) and a chamber representing the people — the European Parliament.

"It will also require a debate, maybe even negotiations, over the civilizational model of Europe, one that is based on a set of values more tightly knitted than the current description in the European Union’s Treaty."

Europe stands for a set of values enshrined in Article 2 of the European Union Treaty: freedom, security, justice, a social market economy, sustainable development, environment quality, social justice, cohesion, solidarity. It has found a balance between freedom, private initiative and social protection.

But, even leaving aside political differences, I guess it would be fair to say that these generic values are not perceived or even felt the same way across Europe. They need to be sharpened and to be owned by Europeans. Political integration means changing anthropological perspectives, and establishing a framework in which “cousins become brothers and neighbours become cousins”.

This new narrative for Europe can only be the result of positive choices. Not just a refusal of wars in European soil. Not just a common detestation of the horrors of the past. Not just a common nostalgia about the cradle of western civilisation. But a new positive, action-oriented narrative that unites Europeans in the belief that their future can be better than their past.

This new narrative will not come as a result of “leading from behind”. It will emerge from explaining, debating and convincing, which will lead to “accepting”.

The second one is to re-invent differentiation. Given what integration means today, we must recognise that not everyone will be ready to move forward at the same pace. Differentiation is inevitable.

This debate is not new to the European Union. But it would be fair to say that variable geometry has often been invoked but rarely practised. Today, finding answers to the question of differentiation is both urgent and essential.

Is “enhanced cooperation” the right way forward? What about the “open method” of co-operation? Or opt-outs? This is particularly relevant to the strengthening of the economic governance of Europe, in particular that of the euro-zone. Two things are clear, in my view. Whichever route is chosen, priority should be given to the Community method. And the Franco-German engine should be at the heart of any solution. Other formats have been tried and tested and have not worked.

The third relates to two economic priorities of the EU: completing the banking union and improving European competitiveness. This conference will address at length the imperative of completing the banking union. Suffice it to say that this is an urgent task as well as a jump in the direction of further solidarity.

I will therefore briefly focus on the issue of competitiveness. By competitiveness, I mean improving the performance of the European economy at large, not just that of the eurozone. Not just parts of the eurozone. Much of this has to do with domestic policies. A good dialogue between European countries, on the basis of facts and figures tabled by the Commission, could be very helpful to look at where and why certain measures have or have not worked.

But a lot of this has to do with horizontal policies that require community action. Starting with better exploiting the European services sector. Untapped growth and jobs potential can be achieved through further opening of this sector at the European level.  Developing a European energy strategy is another essential ingredient to combine price competitiveness with environmental sustainability. Investing in innovation and fundamental and applied research is another area which requires pooling more resources through a common budget. Establishing a level playing field for taxation would also be an important ingredient for better European competitiveness, for both producers and consumers. Finally a “European SMEs Compact” — another source of untapped potential for growth and jobs — could be developed.

The task ahead for Europe is huge. Time is short. And there is urgency. In May 2014, Europeans will go to the polls to elect their representatives at the European Parliament. They will be looking for answers, for a sense of direction, for the way forward. European leaders must “lead from the front” and they must start soon.


Lagarde on the Prerequisites for a Strong Global Economy

Extracts from a Speech to the Washington Foreign Law Society by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (June 4th 2013).

[caption id="attachment_4433" align="alignright" width="270"] Christine Lagarde[/caption]

I should start with a brief update on the global recovery, which is uneven and in fact suffering from an unfinished agenda of critical legal and institutional reforms. We are seeing now a three-speed global economy, where some economies are growing nicely, like the emerging markets in Asia; some are experiencing a rebound, like the U.S.; and others that continue to see weak or even declines in growth, like in parts of Europe. Our projection for global growth remains at 3.3 percent, not much higher than last year, though recent data on manufacturing and industrial production suggest we could be entering a softer patch. This state of affairs is not optimal: we need to move to a “full speed” global recovery with strong economic performance for all countries.

1. Strong legal and institutional frameworks for a strong economy

Turning to my first area of focus: legal and institutional reforms are a critical component of the unfinished agenda for global recovery.

The current crisis has played out most aggressively in advanced economies ─ ironically the economies that previously were assumed to have the strongest legal and institutional architecture. Instead, their regulatory and institutional weaknesses were the source of the crisis, and they are now the economies in third, or at best, second gear. To recover from their current relatively weak position, these economies need to implement a range of legal and institutional reforms in areas such as banking, fiscal policy and corporate/household debt restructuring, as well as tax policies.

But at the current economic juncture, even those economies that are on the mend or that are doing relatively well, are not immune. They too need to continue to adopt robust legal and institutional reforms, for example, in the fiscal area and financial sector, to address remaining vulnerabilities and strengthen their growth trajectories.

"So, what then is the nature of these strong laws and robust institutions that are necessary for a lasting, 'full speed' global recovery?"

They have two essential components:

First, there need to be laws underpinned by an unwavering respect for the rule of law. As James Madison wrote in the Federalist papers: “you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself”. This is the essence of the rule of law – the law must apply equally to all citizens, including those who make the law.

Secondly, and just as importantly, there must be strong institutions that are capable of implementing and enforcing the law in accordance with its terms. It is a common saying that a “chain is only as strong as its weakest link”. Well, in the same way, laws are only as strong as the weakest institutions that enforce them.

Above all, this requires a competent and independent judiciary to implement the law consistently, predictably and transparently. “Il faut que, par la disposition des choses, le pouvoir arrête le pouvoir” (Montesquieu). It also requires strong fiscal institutions, and a credible and well-equipped financial sector regulatory framework. These are key pillars of a robust and inclusive institutional framework.

There is a large body of evidence that confirms the importance of a strong legal and institutional framework, with the core features I have described, for sustainable economic growth. This is recognized by political scientists and economists alike, and above all by history: countries that have developed strong legal and institutional frameworks have performed better in terms of sustained growth and human development. The recent book “Why Nations Fail” by Daron Acemoğlu and James Robinson made a very convincing case for this.

Let us take as an example the system of property rights. The economist Hernando De Soto has long argued that the lack of a system of formal property rights is the main cause of under-development. Among other things, it prevents individuals and enterprises from using their assets to secure credit; more generally, weak enforcement frameworks raise borrowing costs significantly. This creates what De Soto famously described as “dead capital” - a large informal economy in which assets are undervalued, unreported and untaxed.

Imagine transferring a title when institutions are not strong, when boundaries and reported properties are vague, at best, or not accounted for at all because there has never been a cadastre.

The underground economy is estimated at 30-40 percent of GDP in developing countries, and about 15 percent in advanced economies like the U.S. Think of the lost productive potential in an economy where almost half of activity is unreported and almost half the population is beyond the reach of public services.

2. The IMF: strengthening laws and institutions

This brings me to my second area of focus: the IMF’s role in this area. Given the general points I have just made, it will not surprise you to hear that strengthening legal and institutional frameworks is central to the IMF’s work, particularly as we aim for a “full speed” recovery from the global financial crisis.

Because the IMF is often involved at crisis or near-crisis junctures, we can serve as a catalyst for countries to enact legal and institutional reforms that they otherwise lacked the political will or urgency to undertake. As I have mentioned, much of the IMF’s efforts in this area are currently focused on advanced economies, particularly in the euro area. But we also continue to do a good amount of work with our emerging market and low-income members, who too have unfinished reforms in this area.

"It is important to note though that this type of reform takes time. The IMF therefore focuses on putting in motion the process of reform. But member countries must sustain these reforms over time to be effective."

Let me give you three important and topical examples of how sound legal and institutional frameworks are essential for the design and implementation of our policy advice: first, in the area of fiscal frameworks; second, in the area of debt restructuring; and third, in the area of combating economic crimes. These areas have taken centre stage in the IMF’s response to the global financial crisis.

  (1) Strengthening fiscal frameworks

Since the early days, the IMF has been involved in the design of legal and institutional frameworks for fiscal policy. Today, we are seeing the importance of strong fiscal frameworks to underpin the credibility and quality of planned fiscal consolidation, particularly in response to the global financial crisis. As you know, the appropriate pace of consolidation has been at the top of the global economic agenda in recent months.

An important area is tax reform. We have found in many of our member countries that weaknesses here are as much about enforcement as they are about the laws themselves. Tax enforcement requires an efficient and independent judiciary, competent and un-corrupt tax officials. Tax reforms have featured in many of the recent IMF-supported programs, including for Greece for instance.

The IMF also works extensively with countries rich in natural resources, such as Liberia, Mozambique, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Myanmar to help set up sound, transparent institutions and fiscal regimes for extraction that can ensure fairness to all parties and, especially, long-term fiscal sustainability.

  (2) Restructuring debts

Let me turn to my second example: A pervasive theme of the current crisis has been the problem of over-indebtedness – we saw this during the Asian financial crisis and again today. It will not surprise you that strong legal and institutional frameworks are central to addressing this problem.

In the corporate and household sectors, the IMF has helped countries revise insolvency laws, though we found, once again, that implementation and enforcement of the law was the key fault-line. In Greece and Portugal, for example, the IMF is helping put in place more effective procedural rules, fast-track court approval procedures and out-of-court debt restructuring frameworks. These and other measures are needed to optimize the efficiency of court proceedings, and in particular to reduce the large backlogs of cases that are overburdening the system.

In the financial sector on the other hand, the main issue is finding a way to efficiently resolve global financial institutions that took on excessive debts in the lead-up to the crisis. Large international financial groups operate on an increasingly global and integrated basis; however the legal and institutional frameworks to resolve these groups in times of distress are distinctly national in scope. As the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, famously said: “Banks have an international life, and a national death”.

What has become abundantly clear is that we need a way to encourage cooperation and coordination between national authorities in the resolution of these institutions. The IMF has therefore worked closely with the Financial Stability Board to develop a set of international standards for effective resolution regimes, which includes measures for cross-border cooperation.

"In Europe, the IMF has also strongly supported efforts to create a European banking union – a key pillar of which is a single resolution authority, backed by a common resolution fund."

Without the necessary legal and institutional framework in place, countries may be pushed to “bail-out” those institutions perceived to be systemic for their financial systems – but this can be hugely detrimental for sovereign balance sheets.

This brings me to the issue of the sovereign itself. We must recognize that, at a certain point, a country’s public debt level may become unsustainable. And while this should be the last resort, a strong legal framework is needed to support any debt restructuring process. The ongoing litigation related to Argentina’s debt restructuring highlights the legal vulnerabilities that remain to be addressed in this area.

The IMF Executive Board met recently to discuss the IMF's legal and policy framework regarding sovereign debt restructuring. We will be looking at these issues more closely in the coming months. Amongst other areas, we will focus in particular on ways in which the contractual, market-based approach to facilitate sovereign debt restructuring can be improved.

  (3) Combating economic crime

So after tax law, bankruptcy and resolution, coupled with debt restructuring, another area in which sound legal and institutional frameworks are crucial to the IMF’s role is in combating financial fraud, tax evasion, corruption, and the money laundering that accompanies it.

These activities can severely undermine national and global financial stability and eat into a government’s revenue stream, with severe fiscal consequences. To give you a few examples, there is no doubt that tax evasion has been widespread in Greece. In Cyprus, weaknesses in the anti-money-laundering framework may have contributed to the attractiveness and unsustainable growth of its financial sector. Financial fraud was at the centre of crises in a number of other countries in which the IMF has been involved.

Our efforts in this area thus work to address the vulnerabilities in legal and institutional frameworks that allow these activities to flourish. In particular, this involves strengthening frameworks for tax administration, financial supervision and public financial management.

In addition, it requires mobilizing the anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism framework to clamp down on economic crimes, for example, by increasing the monitoring of suspicious fund flows, and ensuring that related assets can be frozen to support tax debt collection.

Ultimately, left unchecked, these activities allow criminals to amass wealth, power and influence. This undermines the rule of law and erodes the social fabric, hindering prospects for growth and human development.

3. Conclusion: Governance, inequality and long term prosperity

Let me conclude by stepping back a bit. The examples I have identified often arise in the context of a crisis - and this should not be surprising given the fact that crisis resolution is a critical area of our work. But it is not the only area of our work. We also have a mandate to prevent crises and to promote sustainable growth for the future.

In that context, we have realized that perhaps we need to spend more time identifying and reflecting on those factors that, over the longer term, may have an impact on economic prosperity. I have discussed the importance of strong laws and institutions, underpinned by the rule of law, for long term economic prosperity. Those countries whose legal and institutional frameworks are particularly weak are likely to pay for those weaknesses over time.

But there are also other long-term trends that can have a major impact on economic prosperity. For example, there is significant evidence that, over time, growing inequality can adversely affect both growth and stability. Equally, we need to take into account trends such as climate change and resource scarcity, and reconcile our aspiration for growth with the constraints of a finite planet – sustainable growth is also green growth.

Accordingly, it makes sense to ask whether the need for reforms in these areas should not also form a greater part of our conversation with member countries - even if, in the short term, a crisis does not appear to be on the horizon. Clearly, there will be other international organizations that are also well-placed to play a leading role in this area. But I think the IMF can do more to identify this as an issue - and this is an area that we will be exploring further.

Thomas Aquinas defined law as “an ordinance for reason for the common good, made and promulgated by him who has care of the community.” The IMF is a public economic institution with a higher purpose of promoting the common good and the best interests of the global community.  We need to foster strong laws and institutions, and think about the longer term consequences of the decisions we make today, if we are to achieve the sustainable economic growth that is central to the IMF’s mandate.


UN: Management of Natural Resources for a Peaceful Afghanistan

[caption id="attachment_4442" align="alignright" width="243"]  Mark Bowden[/caption]

Sustainable and equitable management of Afghanistan’s natural resources such as land, water, forests and minerals can contribute to peacebuilding in the country, according to a United Nations report released on June 24th.

The report, Natural Resource Management and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan, describes how the UN and the international community can assist the Afghan Government to improve the management of natural resources in a way that contributes to peace and development on a national scale.

“Effective management of natural resources will help build peace in Afghanistan, and therefore development work and investment in all natural resource sectors must be managed carefully,” said the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General with the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Mark Bowden.

“Disputes in Afghanistan over natural resources can aggravate existing ethnic, political and regional divisions,” he added.

The study, which was funded by the European Union (EU), also aims to encourage international organizations to introduce mechanisms into their projects to ensure that they do not inadvertently exacerbate conflict over natural resources.

Up to 80 per cent of Afghans are directly dependent on natural resources for income and sustenance, and 60 per cent of the population obtain their livelihoods from agriculture, making equitable management of these resources particularly relevant in the country.

Natural resources contribute to underlying tension and conflict in Afghanistan as powerful groups try to gain control over access to irrigation water for downstream provinces, communities compete over land, illegal trade of forest timber and gemstones is widespread, and corruption is rampant.

“The issue in post-conflict countries is how to make natural resources a blessing that reinforces stability and not a curse that drives conflict,” said Nicholas Haysom, a Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Afghanistan.

The report notes that the international community can help improve the management of natural resources in Afghanistan by building capacity to help implement management structures and laws relating to natural resources, supporting community-level dispute resolution processes, improving data collection to enable early warning alerts when risks are detected, providing funding for conflict resolution that takes an environmental approach, and making environmental assessments a standard component of all development projects.

Led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the report was developed in close collaboration with the Natural Resources Contact Group of the UN in Afghanistan and produced at the request of the UN Country Team, in partnership with the EU-UN Global Partnership on Land, Natural Resources and Conflict.


CBI Says ‘Get Major Projects Moving to Protect the Recovery’

[caption id="attachment_4455" align="alignright" width="275"] John Cridland[/caption]

Ahead of the Wednesday June 26th spending round, the Confederation of British Industry  reiterated its call for the Chancellor to take urgent steps to bridge the infrastructure investment gap and make the big decisions to protect growth and get a clutch of major projects on the move. Failure to act could place the fledgling recovery at risk.

The UK’s leading business group is calling for short-term action to improve roads and boost house-building, and for long-term infrastructure investment to be kick-started by selecting flagship projects and extending the UK government guarantee scheme.

The CBI believes other areas that can help boost growth should also be prioritised, such as increasing funding levels for the Technology Strategy Board.

John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said: “The Chancellor must prioritise areas that could propel a fledgling recovery and infrastructure investment should be in pole position.

“We need quick and decisive action on the big decisions that will move projects from blueprints to building."

“The Government must bridge the investment gap making sure infrastructure spending is a priority in the years ahead.

“There also needs to be a fresh look at the impact and value of ring-fencing. It cannot be an excuse for poor financial discipline.”

In its submission, the CBI called for:

On protection of infrastructure spending

The Government to select flagship projects to prioritise – for example, an upgrade of the A14 connecting Felixstowe Port, the M4 relief road and improving surface access to airports

Cross-party manifesto pledges to accept recommendations of the Davies Commission on aviation capacity in 2015

Clarity over the next investment cycle for the Affordable Homes Programme

An extension of the UK guarantee schemes beyond 2014 to boost private sector investment

Maintaining focus of Repair, Maintenance and Improvement schemes for roads to bridge the gap before larger projects reach construction.

On other growth boosting measures:

The extension of the Energy Intensive Industries support package which should be linked to the Carbon Price Floor

Support for maintaining current funding for the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and increasing this if possible, as the TSB has been underfunded to date and is crucial to successfully protect innovation in the UK

A new skills tax credit to invest in our future workforce and boost productivity

Continued support for UK Trade and Investment’s budget to boost growing and ambitious UK exporters.


EU Budget Agreed

Following their meeting on Thursday 27th June at the Commission headquarters, President Barroso, President Schulz and Irish Taoiseach Kenny announced a political agreement on the European Union's future budget 2014-2020.

President Barroso underlined that this was possible because all sides have gone the extra mile and said: "This is a good deal for Europe, for European citizens and for the European economy."

He pointed to the main elements of the agreement: more flexibility on both payments and commitments, frontloading of expenditure linked to youth employment, research, education and SMEs as well as the possibility to increase aid for the most deprived people. He also said that the deal confirms the agreement reached for the 2013 amending budget.

"This is a good deal for Europe."

He also pointed out that the Compact for Growth discussed at the European Council that same day cannot exist without a fund for growth and concluded: "Our fund for growth is the European budget". He thanked the representatives of the other institutions for their true European spirit.

The deal will now be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council for formal endorsement.


CFI.co Meets Chief Andrew Oziri Emeri

Chief Andrew Oziri Emeri, (or OZ as he is popularly known) was born on 27th June, 1960 to the families of Mr. & Mrs. Emeri O. Alexander aka (Alexander De Great) of Umunede Kingdom in Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State.

He is the Chairman/CEO of Ozma Nigeria Company Limited and DreamWorks Eng. & Const. Ltd., Precious Fortune Int’l Ltd., a seasoned manager and strategist.

Chief Emeri attended the then Pilgrim Baptist Primary School, Umunede, where his leadership quality was first spotted and, without compromise, he was selected as the general monitor of the school. He proceeded to Ede Grammar School Umunede where he sat for his West African Examination Council (WAEC).

In search for greener pastures, Chief Emeri left for Lagos in 1980 joining Willisco Aerospace & Industrial Radiography Training School where he obtained ASNT level ll on three methods i.e. in Radiographic Film Interpretation (RI), Ultrasonic Testing (UT), Magnetic Particle Inspection (MPI) and Dye Penetrant Testing (PT), respectively.

He left Willisco in 1989 as a Radiographic Supervisor to join Overseas Technical Services (OTC) as a Radiation Protection Supervisor (RPS), as a result of hard work, honesty, dedication to work and sincerity, he was promoted to the position of Non- Destructive Testing (NDT) Manager, a position he held until he decided to establish his company, Ozma Nigeria Company Limited in 1994.

Holding a Masters in Crime Management from Delta State University, Abraka, Bachelors in Business Management from Abia State University, Uturu and an OND (equivalent), Chief Emeri is a member of the Obi in Council (the highest ruling body of the Royal palace) in Umunede Kingdom.

He is also a member of the Nigerian Institute of Welding (NIW), Institute of Strategic Management (ISM) where he is the Chairman of the Warri District of the Institute and the Secretary to the Delta State Chapter, American Society for Non- Destructive Testing, amongst others.

This leader has attended several seminars and exhibitions relating to Oil and Gas, including: OTC 2012 & 2013, Nigeria Oil & Gas Exhibition 2012, Institute of Strategic Management Master class in London, 18th World Conference on Non- Destructive Testing in Durban- South Africa.

A God-fearing man, philanthropist and team leader, he is a very industrious individual who is always ready to embrace the newest of techniques/ technologies.

The Chief is a business leader to reckon with, an employer of labour, and helper and shield to many. An achiever, a man with whom there is no impossibility ‘because there must always be a way out’.

Chief Andrew Oziri Emeri is married to someone he describes as ‘the most wonderful woman on earth, Mrs. Franca Emeri’, and they are blessed with two lovely children.


CFI.co Meets Naeem Mawji

Naeem grew up in Musoma, within the Mara region in North Eastern Tanzania. From an early age, he has been involved in the planning and execution of several self-help development projects initiated by farmers and their local government throughout the Mara region via his family business, Mawsons Constructions Ltd. Many of the projects involved the construction of earth dams, bridges and primary schools in some of the most remote areas of Mara, including Busegwe Primary School, Buswahili Earth Dam, Mkirira Earth Dam and Rwako Bridge.

Before embarking onto his university career, Naeem received the University of British Columbia’s prestigious International Leader of Tomorrow (ILOT) award, a full scholarship for his undergraduate degree. At UBC, Naeem pursued Chemical Engineering with a specialization in Clean Energy. As part of his program, Naeem led a group of six final year engineering students in developing a biomass power generation system that can power small farming communities with electricity by burning excess agricultural residue. The project involved engineering design, economic analysis and continual engagement with the local host communities. This project won Naeem and his team the Shell Canada Award for Best Final Year Engineering Design Project.

While at university, Naeem’s desire to contribute to socio-economic betterment of Tanzania did not wane. Stemming from his experience as a certified electrical technician, Naeem initiated the Kuwasha Project (Swahili for ‘to Ignite’), a collaboration between the Masurura Village, the Musoma District Council, and the UBC Centre for International Health. This initiative allowed for a better understanding of the power needs of Masurura and other regions within Tanzania and led to the creation of Carbon X Energy.

Naeem founded Carbon X together with two other local partners AlHussein Dhanani and Viraj Gadhvi with the vision of providing access to conventional 230V AC electricity supply to isolated villages through the use of Solar PV mini-grid. A community power model that allows villages to generate and consume their own electricity locally.

In recognition of his above achievements and high academic standing, Naeem was awarded the UBC Engineering Co-op Student of the Year 2011 and the William M. Gallacher Scholarship in Engineering.

In April 2010, Naeem’s company, Carbon X won the Lighting Rural Tanzania Competition organized by the World Bank and the Rural Energy Agency. Using the funds from this award Naeem and his team were able to implement a working model of the community power concept in a village called Masurura in Northern Tanzania. Naeem built a Solar PV mini-grid that has been operational for over a year now and has proven itself as a viable model for rural electrification.

However, the concept of community power is not without challenges. Naeem and his team face many practical day-to-day challenges in terms of electricity theft, revenue collection and operations management, that limit their ability to scale and replicate the project in other regions within Tanzania. In efforts to address these challenges, Naeem and his brother Aleem Mawji, are working towards developing a new technology that will allow community power project developers like themselves to overcome some of these obstacles. This new technology is being developed through a company called Jamii Power (Swahili for ‘Community Power’) recently founded by the two brothers.

The new technology, called JAPO, is a smart mini-grid prepaid metering and management system that automates the day-to-day operation and maintenance of a mini-grid through extensive use of mobile services. Naeem and his brother hope to complete the development of this system within the next one-year. Once complete, the two brothers plan to use this technology to replicate their community power model to over 100 villages in the next five years through a collective effort between Carbon X and Jamii Power.

As a strong believer in clean energy, Naeem is also pursuing a Master of Engineering in Clean Energy Engineering at UBC to get a better understanding of the emerging alternative technologies that can be implemented in countries like Tanzania through his community power (micro-utility) model. He wishes to develop a deeper understanding of not only the technical and economic aspect of these various sources of clean energy, but also the different government policies that surround them in various countries globally.

However, in order to do this, Naeem realizes that Solar PV is not the only viable technology for off-grid applications in Africa. There is a need to develop a technology agnostic approach to rural electrification in terms of the power generation technologies. There is no one solution to power generation. Every village community has the ability to select the most appropriate technology based on its locally accessible resources to produce electricity. Some villages produce very high yields of dry agricultural residue that can be used to generate electricity from biomass gasification. Others may take advantage of small streams in the area and choose the option of micro hydro.

Naeem’s wealth of experience in community engagement and new business development coupled with his comprehensive technical background provides him with the specific skill set necessary to lead his team forward. In addition, his proactive nature and unwavering work ethic alongside his strong leadership skills and wealth of relevant real-world experience gives Naeem and his team an innovative competitive edge.


ICC On Rethinking Trade and Finance

[caption id="attachment_4473" align="alignright" width="170"] Thierry Senechal[/caption]

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) 2013 survey on trade and finance, released on June 24th, has found that a continued shortage of trade finance for international trade remains a major challenge for economic recovery and development, with many traders depending on overdraft and other corporate loans to finance exports and imports.

According to the survey, nodes of uncertainty over the US presidential election results, crises in the Middle East, and Sino-Japanese tensions all contributed to the lacklustre pace of world trade which fell back to 3.8% growth in 2012, down from 6.1% the previous year. Sluggishness in the Eurozone economy prompted weak global demand by midyear, as economies in China, India, Brazil and other emerging markets slowed down in turn.

The proliferation of new regulation in recent years has increased cost pressure on financial institutions and depressed markets. Some 65% of surveyed experts said implementation of Basel III regulations is to some extent or a large extent affecting the cost of funds and liquidity for trade finance. While many regulatory changes have already been implemented or proposed, the regulatory future remains unclear as harmonization of regulatory principles remains a major problem for trade financiers and their clients.

The survey positively indicates that despite uneven performance around the world in 2012, the market for trade finance does show signs of slow and steady growth, with temporary trade measures imposed during the financial crisis – including the rise in fees for trade – slowly being removed.

“This shows that financial intermediaries are continuing to satisfy the demand for financing and that investing in trade assets is part of a more sustainable model of banking," said Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organization, in the survey’s foreword.

Entitled Rethinking Trade and Finance – An ICC Private Sector Development Perspective, the ICC survey reveals that developing economies remain the drivers of international trade growth despite the ever-rising level of regulation in the wake of the financial crisis and a clear trade finance gap for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the southern hemisphere. Yet the resilience and increasing importance of developing countries has become more evident, according to the survey, which says that although developing country exports fluctuated throughout the year, they surpassed pre-crisis levels rising to 8.5% in 2012.

Trade facilitation programmes by multilateral development banks (MDB) also increased in 2012 according to the survey, which predicts the role of MDBs will become even more instrumental in supporting global recovery, economic development and poverty alleviation in future years.

The survey includes analysis of trade traffic data, from financial messaging service provider SWIFT, indicating that by the year 2020, a third of global trade will likely be South-South. The data reveals a signature shift in the Asia-Pacific region where 73% of all export transactions took place in 2012 together with a rise of 2.32% in import traffic. By contrast, import traffic decreased most noticeably in the Europe-Euro zone: a drop-off of 13.5%.

“We are encouraged by the continuing effort to fine tune various capital treatments for trade finance whether at the supranational level, or in national implementation. It is important for the business community to press on with the current dialogue with regulators as there is still a lot to be done. On the macroeconomics front, we also expect to see a credible plan in place for the budget issues that are plaguing certain countries, leading to restored confidence but perhaps with a longer drawn out and bumpier recovery than we hope for,” said Kah Chye Tan, Vice-Chairman, Corporate Banking, Barclays, and Chair of the ICC Banking Commission.

Providing a detailed statistical analysis of the regional and global trends in trade finance, Rethinking Trade and Finance 2013 received responses from representatives of 260 banks in 112 countries. Expanded in scope, the 2013 Survey includes a new section on potential market developments, which includes the views of some of the world’s leading experts in global trade finance on the drivers and potential solutions to a more robust and resilient market.

The 2013 survey also received the participation of two new partners: the International Trade Centre (ITC), to cover credit constraints and non-tariff measures in trade; and Factors Chain International (FCI), providing business trends in factoring.

Rethinking Trade and Finance 2013 fulfils ICC’s commitment to bridge the information gap on trade finance through market intelligence reporting and monitoring that leads to a better understand and markets worldwide.

Thierry Senechal, ICC Banking Commission Senior Policy Manager said: “Trade finance is the oil that powers the engine of global economic growth but despite encouraging signs, this stellar image of the industry is imperilled as trade finance faces headwinds that may completely upend the global landscape in which it operates in the next five years. This includes a welter of regulations, a two-speed financial system, a disruptive deleveraging process and new SME entrants starved of trade finance in several emerging countries.”


CFI.co Meets Rashesh Shah

Rashesh Shah is Founder, Chairman & CEO of Edelweiss group – one of India’s most diversified financial services conglomerates. An MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, he has spent more than 25 years in financial markets and corporate sector. He started Edelweiss in 1995 with three employees and a capital of Rs 10 million. It has since grown into a diversified financial services group with businesses ranging from Credit including Housing Finance, Financial Markets including asset management, Commodities, and Life Insurance. For the financial year ended on March 31, 2013, Edelweiss had a balance sheet size of about $2.5 bn, net worth of $ 500 million, a loan book of about $1.1 bn and employs over 4,000 people

In a conversation with CFI.co, Shah talks about his experience as an entrepreneur and the role of a leader in today’s business world

Q: It is often said that entrepreneurship can’t be taught. You did MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad; of the world’s top business schools. How much did it help in being an entrepreneur?

Shah: This argument about whether entrepreneurship tends to miss the point completely. Sure, if you look around, a lot of the world’s most successful companies – Microsoft, Google, Apple were founded by people who never went to a B-School. But the point to consider is whether they would have become global leaders if they hadn’t been able to attract top notch management talent, a lot whom did go to B-Schools.

Entrepreneurship is a state of mind, an attitude. It drives you to innovate, to take risks, to get out of your comfort zone. That surely cannot be taught. But management education can help you to exploit your innovation better in the market place, it helps you crystallize the risks better, it helps you in managing your growth. These are all necessary attributes for building an institution.

As far as our own plans were concerned, we had to constantly innovate and change our business model to meet market conditions. I believe B-school education greatly helped in that process. But real world is real world and experience is also very useful. I don’t think B-School education and experience are substitutes. They complement each other.

Q: The biggest challenge most fast growing companies face is about cultivating the next rung of leaders. How do you manage that at Edelweiss?

Shah: At Edelweiss, we have a very well defined, multi-layered programme of identifying and cultivating leaders, right from the early stages of their career. Once these potential leaders are identified they are provided with a lot empowerment. There is a constant communication with this group to encourage them to think and act 1-2 levels about their pay grade. This helps future leaders reframe current perceptions about potential and brings alive future possibilities.

People have different personality types and our job is to understand these personalities and then bring out their leadership qualities. There are the ultra-aggressive types, where our job is to moderate their drives in order for them to become more socially productive in their ambitions to maintain organizational values and harmony. Then there are some who are naturally reticent. Here our role is to make their dreams acceptable and giving these aspiring leaders the opportunity that they never overtly ask for.

For all of these future leaders our mantra is to get them to think like a CEO of the company. Once they start doing that and taking ownership of their decisions, the results, in our experience are astonishing.

Q: The last few years have been a trying time for the global financial services industry. Even the India growth story is losing some of its sheen. What is the role a leader during such crisis?

Shah: The true test of a leader – be that of a company or a country – is how he or she deals with the crisis. If we look through history as to how great leaders have withstood crisis a few common themes emerge.

It starts with facing reality and recognizing there is a crisis and getting people together to understand the root causes. The next step is to also recognize that how bad things are, there is possibility that it could get worse. This realization helps when leaders start looking for solutions. Otherwise there is a danger of undershooting

One tendency that people sometimes have is to go into an isolation mode when faced with a crisis. But great leaders have always recognized that a crisis can only be faced by gathering and motivating teams and get them to work in concert. To paraphrase Peter Drucker, Leadership is not just doing thing right, but doing the right things; demonstrably and repeatedly. Doing this builds trust, which the key to tackling any crisis.

Finally, one adage that we have always followed at Edelweiss – Never waste a good crisis. Every crisis has the seeds of an opportunity. It allows you to carry out structural changes, chart out new courses and test out new ideas. All our new businesses at Edelweiss – from broking to life insurance have been started and built when the times were tough. It allowed us time to invest, recruit good talent, and test out models. By the time the economic cycle turned, we were ready with our businesses to benefit from the upside.

Q: In your own experience which has been the biggest leadership challenge you have faced?

Shah: The two biggest challenges for any organization are scaling up and then re-orienting a business that has gathered scale. For us the initial challenge was to get potential employees and investors to believe in our idea that a newly liberalizing Indian economy needed new age diversified financial services provider that we wanted Edelweiss to be. We managed it through a combination of our conviction, grit and large dollops of luck.

The second big challenge was when we decided to expand our business from being capital market centric and diversify into adjacent spaces like credit, commodities, housing finance and life insurance. It also meant re-orienting ourselves from a “wholesale” mindset and learning how things are done in retail businesses. It meant re-orienting and re-energizing the organization. It also meant that getting our people as well as investors to understand and buy into vision that we had. The whole process has been a learning experience for all of us.

Q: Who are the leaders that have inspired you?

Shah: Every age and every sphere of life has thrown up fascinating examples of leadership. The impact these leaders may have had could vary from being world-changing to affecting a small group of people. But there is so much to learn from their lives. The ones I find particularly fascinating are Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi. All of them faced uphill tasks, but through their ability to communicate they were able to inspire and motivate masses and guide their people to victory and change the course of history.


CFI.co Meets ‘Jibola Odedina

CEO’s Profile

The new management team appointed in October 2005, was led by Mr. ‘Jibola Odedina, who brought to bear over 22 years of cognate experience in principal investments, securities trading, portfolio management, and property development. ‘Jibola assembled a team of finance and investment professionals charged with the responsibility of transforming the company from a purely stockbroking firm to a full-fledged investment and financial services company.

He  oversaw the seamless transition of the new ownership and management of the company and completed the process of business re-engineering to evolve Marina Securities as a leading force; pushing the boundaries of service delivery, technological innovation, business processes and market expertise.

He demands creativity, commitment to clients and proper business practices, integrity, professionalism and expertise from his staff.

Education and Professional Highlights

‘Jibola Odedina holds a Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) degree in Finance (1984) and an honours degree in Economics (1987) both from The University of Texas at Arlington, Texas, USA.

‘Jibola started his professional career as a Call-over Clerk at the Nigerian Stock Exchange in December 1987 and also worked in the Quotations and Listing department. From there, he joined AVC Funds Limited (an affiliated investment company of the former Allstates Trust Bank Limited) in January 1989 as an Investment Analyst and rose to head the Treasury and Funds Management operations of the company. In August 1994, he was appointed Executive Director of Ouddy Nominees Limited, a private Investments and Financial Services company, and set out to establish the commercial operations of the company. His sojourn at Ouddy Nominees Limited also saw him oversee the principal investments of the company in manufacturing and real estate  development between 1999 and 2005.

‘Jibola qualified as  an Authorized Dealing Clerk of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in December 1995 and has served as member of the National Committees of Securities and Exchange Commission, and The Nigerian Stock Exchange, on review of Registrar Operations, IT infrastructure and Trading Platform. He also served as Secretary to the Association of Stockbroking Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) Capacity Building and Rapid Skill Enhancement Sub-Committee.

He currently sits on the board of directors of NASD Plc, Marina Securities Limited, and Marina Securities Stockbroking Services Limited.

Overview of Marina Securities Limited

With the vision of being Africa’s leading securities trading and financial advisory company, Marina Securities Limited (“Marina Securities or “parent company”) was incorporated in 1992 as Intermediate Capital Group Limited to carry on the business of Stockbroking as a wholly owned subsidiary of Marina International Bank Limited.

The Company commenced full business operations in July 1999, having been registered and licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Nigerian Stock Exchange as Broker/Dealer and Investment Adviser.

Further to the successful merger of Access Bank Plc, Capital Bank and Marina International Bank Limited in October 2005, Access Bank assumed 100 percent of the equity shares of Marina Securities Limited and immediately thereafter appointed a new management team to undertake the task of effecting a seamless transition of ownership and management and develop a business transformation agenda for the Company.

In line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) directive to banks to divest from non-banking subsidiaries, Access Bank Plc has fully divested its interest in the Company, and today, Marina Securities having been registered by SEC as Issuing House, is an independent Investment and Financial Advisory Services Company.

In August 2011, Marina Securities Stockbroking Services Limited was incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Marina Securities Limited, to carry on the Broker/Dealer business of the parent Company.


EU Welcomes Croatia

On Monday 1 July Croatia became the 28th Member State of the European Union. The EU commented that, ‘Croatia's accession marks another milestone in the construction of a united Europe. It also provides fresh evidence of the transformative power of the European Union: torn by conflict only two decades ago, Croatia is now a stable democracy, capable of taking on the obligations of EU membership and of adhering to EU standards. Croatia's accession shows that the European perspective is real for those countries firmly committed to the EU agenda. It is a clear signal for the region: the EU keeps its commitments if the necessary reforms are delivered and conditions are met.’

 "Croatia's accession marks another milestone in the construction of a united Europe."

On the eve of Croatia's accession, President Barroso said: "Croatia's accession to the European Union is a historic event, which returns the country to its rightful place at the heart of Europe. I look forward to Croatia's contribution to the EU, which will be a success story – to the benefit of the Union, of the people of Croatia and of South East Europe as whole."


CFI.co Meets Badaru Adeoti

Badaru is a computer science graduate of Babcock University (one of the first private universities in Nigeria). He worked for/with different telecoms and media companies in various capacities ranging from Head/ Lead Engineer to Regional Manager before starting up with Grat Network Digital Solutions Limited, a company incorporated under the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria.

He has played various roles in different spectra of the telecoms industry ranging from telecoms consultancy, project management, practical field work, business development and strategy. Badaru has also consulted for major telecommunication service providers and vendors amongst others.

Badaru is also a director at De Prestige Limited, a company established to run hotel management and services, real estate and mechanized farming. De Prestige has been in existence for three decades.

A personal leadership consultancy for individuals who want to discover their purpose and ascend the ladder of success is another of Badaru’s successful ventures . He is an avid reader and a result oriented person who has been instrumental in growing Grat Network from its humble beginnings into a vibrant company as well as its first-to-market of mini innovative solutions for oil and gas security, driving the company's rapid growth.

Board member of several up and coming telecoms servicing companies, Badaru Adeoti has a great passion for telecoms and onshore/ offshore oil and gas security.


CFI.co Meets Wilson Endy Opuwei

Wilson Endy Opuwei is an oil and gas entrepreneur with business interests in exploration and production, manufacturing, power and marine sectors, as a player in the global industry marketplace, Wilson has midwifed multi-currency boardroom transactions, even as he contributes to human capacity development and resource management.

With a background in international oil and gas law, this intellectually minded gentleman provides advisory services to multi-national corporations as well as governments. He has introduced strategies and policies towards the advancement of industry operations and regulatory frameworks.

A recipient of many awards as well as member of professional organizations, Wilson is currently the executive Vice Chairman/CEO of Dateline Energy Services Group, whilst on the board of notable local and international companies.

Wilson hails from Bayelsa State of Nigeria, married with 4 children, loves golfing and an ardent believer in Project Nigeria.


Braggarts Become Leaders

By Hillary Rosner, a freelance journalist based in Boulder, Colorado.

Based on the research of Ernesto Reuben, Pedro Rey-Biel, Paola Sapienza and Luigi Zingales

Women at a disadvantage when competing for leadership positions

Why do men tend to fare better in competitive environments than women do? It is a question researchers have long pondered. More than a decade ago, two economists—Claudia Goldin of Harvard and Cecilia Rouse of Princeton—found sex-based discrimination in the hiring of orchestra musicians. Beginning in the 1970s, many orchestras in the United States, hoping to remedy a dearth of women in their ranks, began conducting blind auditions. Musicians performed behind a screen so the selection committee could not see them. Goldin and Rouse compared several orchestras before and after the change—and found that women were selected 30 percent more often when auditions were blind.

For Paola Sapienza, a professor of finance at the Kellogg School of Management, the finding was fascinating—yet it did not explain the reason for the bias to begin with. Was the gender bias a result of “belief-based discrimination,” in which the judges assumed that women are less competent; of “taste-based discrimination,” in which the judges simply preferred men for reasons other than competence, such as a belief that the audience prefers male musicians; or of “statistical discrimination,” in which gender confers some other valuable information (e.g., men are preferable because they presumably do not take as much time off)? “The data in the paper were able to establish a bias,” says Sapienza, “but they could not distinguish between the three of them.”

Distinguishing Between Types of Discrimination

So Sapienza, along with Ernesto Reuben, an assistant professor at Columbia University; Pedro Rey-Biel, an associate professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; and Luigi Zingales, a professor at the University of Chicago, set out to look more closely at gender bias in competitive settings. They wanted to know why organizations might fail to select high-performing women for jobs at which the women would excel. They devised an experiment that eliminated the possibility of discrimination based on taste or statistics, to test whether belief-based discrimination could account for gender bias on its own.

“There is big evidence that ten years out women tend to earn 60 percent less than men.”

They divided MBA students into teams and had each team select a leader to represent them in a competition, which involved doing a series of calculations. The subjects in the study had all previously performed the same task, two years earlier, so they could use their past performance as a means of predicting their chances of winning this time around. Before the selection took place, the students were asked to recall how well they had done in the same task two years ago. They were also asked to predict how well they would do on the same task again.

Members of the team whose leader won the competition all received a cash prize, so everyone on the team had a clear incentive to choose the best leader; the leader received no more money than anyone else. Teams had five minutes in which each participant could make the case for how well they thought they would do in the competition, and then to choose a leader based on that information. “Barring any explicit discrimination against women—which would be unlikely in an experiment with university students—groups should aim to select their most talented individual irrespective of gender,” Sapienza and her colleagues wrote.

But that is not what happened. Instead, women were selected as group leaders 33.3 percent less frequently than they should have been based solely on how well they did in the earlier competition. “Women are selected much less often as leaders than is suggested by their individual past performance,” the researchers wrote.

“There is big evidence, even among women MBAs, that ten years out women tend to earn 60 percent less than men,” Sapienza explains, “even when they start in the same field with very similar salaries. The question is, Why do women lag behind over time? To what extent is it the result of evaluation that’s done outside, and how much does it interact with the self-promotion of men and women?”

Boastful Behavior

To understand what was driving their results, Sapienza and her colleagues tested three possible theories as to why women may be less frequently selected as leaders. The first was a difference in the way men and women judge their own abilities. The second was a difference in how men and women describe their own abilities. And the third was a difference in how men and women deal with what the researchers call “agency problems,” or how they “respond to conflicts of interest between their own interest and the group’s.”

The answer turned out to be theory number two. By far the most important reason why women were being underrepresented as team leaders was how they portrayed their abilities relative to men’s. Both men and women in the study were inclined to overstate how well they had done in the earlier competition and how well they would do in the future, but men were far more willing to do so.

What troubled Sapienza and her colleagues, though, was not that women tended to overstate their abilities less than men. It was that the people evaluating candidates for leadership did not discount men’s tendency to boast more. “The fact that men tend to overstate, that’s not a surprise,” Sapienza says. “But if everyone knows that, why don’t they just say, ‘If men say 5, it must be 3.’ There is some discounting, but it’s very minimal.”

These biases are a cause for some concern—in the real world, companies and organizations that can identify and choose their best members have an advantage over those that cannot. On a personal level, to overcome this, women are typically coached to boast more, Sapienza says. But that does not help companies and organizations, which would then face a field of candidates who greatly inflate their reported abilities. The solution, Sapienza suggests, is to handicap the biggest braggarts, leveling the playing field for everyone.

About the Research

Sapienza, Paola, Ernesto Reuben, Pedro Rey-Biel, and Luigi Zingales. 2012. “The Emergence of Male Leadership in Competitive Environments.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 83(1): 111-117.

Reproduced with permission of the Kellogg School of Management and Kellogg Insight, http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu. © Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University


CFI.co Meets Dr. Avigdor Klagsbald

Dr. A. Klagsbald & Co. Law Offices is one of Israel's leading law firms, founded by Dr. A. Klagsbald, who is among Israel's most highly esteemed litigators. The firm engages in litigation in all legal forums, as well as in arbitration, mediation, national commissions of inquiry, etc. Dr. A. Klagsbald and his team frequently represent prime ministers, ministers, senior public figures, leaders of the Israeli business community, leading international and Israeli corporations, and prominent Forbes 400 individuals. The firm provides its clients with professional counsel and representation in a broad variety of legal issues, while employing extensive knowledge and expertise, rich method of work and creative thinking.

Method of Work

With over 30 years of experience in litigation, Dr. Klagsbald personally spearheads his team in every case taken by the firm, each working team ranging from two to four lawyers, depending on the complexity of the case and the client's needs. Dr. Klagsbald's team is result-oriented, employing strategic thinking, creativity, team work and inter-disciplinary skills to achieve the best possible results for the client. The relatively small number of cases handled by the firm at any given moment guarantees the client the full attention of the team working on the case.

Areas of Practice

Complex civil disputes – The firm handles complex legal actions in connection with transactions in various fields, represents international corporations in proceedings held by or against them in Israel, and assists foreign counsels in cases conducted by or against the firm's clients overseas. Dr. Klagsbald's rich experience in managing complex litigation, serves the firm, particularly in complex civil cases, and in representing prominent figures in the Israeli business community in civil aspects of family disputes. Dr. Klagsbald and his team have handled complex control battles in large companies, disputes between shareholders and proceedings against officers, minority oppression cases, claims to enforce and to invalidate share purchase agreements, and other complex disputes involving the fabric of the corporate relationship. The firm provides comprehensive support in connection with such disputes, in which context Dr. Klagsbald appears in various legal forums, attends board meetings in Israel and overseas, and takes part in management meetings.

White-collar crimes – The firm team counsels white-collar criminal suspects and defendants (including mega corporations and senior members of the business community), from the investigation stages to the hearing and on to precedential judicial rulings. Dr. Klagsbald is responsible for the acquittal of persons accused of serious securities law offenses. The firm also advises corporations damaged by white-collar crimes and assists them with the related criminal and civil proceedings.

Antitrust – Dr. Klagsbald is responsible for key precedents in antitrust law. The firm counsels its clients on civil and criminal aspects of restrictive trade practices, mergers and monopolies and represents such corporations vis-à-vis the various authorities and in court.

Administrative law, constitutional law and commissions of inquiry – Dr. Klagsbald has rich academic experience in these legal fields: Dr. Klagsbald has lectured on constitutional law at leading academic institutions. He is the author of the book Tribunals of Inquiry (2001) and has published many articles in these fields in leading journals. This academic experience was put to action in representation of leading market players, including large telecommunication companies. Dr. Klagsbald has led numerous precedent setting high-profile legal battles.

Dr. Avigdor Klagsbald

Dr. Klagsbald is a graduate of Tel Aviv University (LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D.) and the author of Tribunals of Inquiry (2001). He has also authored the following publications: The Commission on the Scope of Immunity of the State President (1979), TAU Law Review, 7, 238; Letter of Relief and a License for Freedom (1983), 9 TAU Law Review, 211; The Kahan Commission of Inquiry (1983), Public Law, 211; Criminal Offense and Early Prevention (1991), 2 Criminal Law 1983; A Public Office, a 'Criminal Record' and Administrative Evidence (1995), Law, 93; Restriction of the Right of Argumentation before Commissions of Inquiry (1998), Law and Government 751; and Inconsistency with a Basic Law (2006), Israel Bar Law Review 293and From the Rubinstein Case to the Rubinstein Book: On the updated interpretation of section 4 of the Basic Law: The Knesset (2012) , Law and Business Law Review, 183. Dr. Klagsbald has lectured at various law schools (including Tel Aviv University), is a member of a forum of lecturers on constitutional law, and is a lecturer, participant and panel chair at conferences and seminars on all branches of the law. During his career, Dr. Klagsbald has handled numerous high profile and landmark cases setting precedents in the areas of corporate law, antitrust, bids and tenders, constitutional law, "white collar" and economic criminal law. In addition, since 2003, Dr. Klagsbald serves as an arbitrator on behalf of the State of Israel in arbitration proceedings in Switzerland.

Amir Shraga

Mr. Shraga is a graduate of Tel Aviv University (LL.B.) and has lectured at various law schools. Mr. Shraga clerked for the Hon. Justice (Ret.) Eliezer Goldberg at the Supreme Court of Israel. In 1998, Mr. Shraga joined Dr. Klagsbald's team. Mr. Shraga represented various corporations in complex ownership and control disputes, key figures in the global business community in all tribunals and arbitration proceedings.

Galia Cohen

Ms. Cohen is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (LL.B.) and of Tel Aviv University (LL.M.). In 2000, Ms. Cohen joined Dr. Klagsbald's team. Ms. Cohen has represented leading Israeli and international corporations and provided legal counsel to companies and public figures in civil proceedings and in complex criminal proceedings.

Gal Levita

Mr. Levita is a graduate of Tel Aviv University (LL.B., LL.M.) and Yale University (LL.M.). Mr. Levita clerked for the Hon. Chief Justice (Ret.) Aharon Barak at the Supreme Court of Israel. In 2008, Mr. Levita joined Dr. Klagsbald's team. Mr. Levita has represented foreign and domestic clients in complex civil disputes, and has advised them with respect to proceedings conducted outside of Israel.

Address: Gibor Sport Building, 24th Floor, 7 Menachem Begin St., Ramat Gan 52681

Tel: 972-3-6110700     Fax: 972-3-6110707

E-mail: office@klag.co.il

Website: www.klag.co.il


Military Takeover in Egypt: UN Appeals for Restraint

With Egypt's transition at “another delicate juncture,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated on Wednesday 3rd July his appeals for non-violence and restraint, urging an inclusive approach to overcome the current "deep difficulties" and address the concerns of all Egyptians.

“The Secretary-General is following closely and with continuing concern the fast-moving developments in Egypt. He continues to stand with the aspirations of the Egyptian people,” said a statement issued by a spokesperson for the UN chief.

In the wake of massive protests – both for and against Egypt's current Government – Mr. Ban noted the delicate nature of the situation following the army's announcement that it is suspending the Constitution and appointing the head of the constitutional court as interim head of state – “decisions that have not been accepted by President [Mohamed] Morsy”.

“Preservation of fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and assembly remain of vital importance.”

Egypt has been undergoing a halting democratic transition following the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak two years ago in the wake of mass protests similar to those seen in other parts of the Middle East and North Africa as part of the “Arab Spring.”

Demonstrations have been taking place in Cairo and other cities across the country in recent days, with protesters reportedly calling for President Morsy's resignation. Media reports noted on Monday that Egypt's army had given the country's rival parties 48 hours to resolve the political crisis.

“At this moment of continued high tension and uncertainty in the country, the Secretary-General reiterates his appeals for calm, non-violence, dialogue and restraint,” the statement said, adding that an inclusive approach is essential to addressing the needs and concerns of all Egyptians.

“Preservation of fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and assembly remain of vital importance.”

Mr. Ban said that in their protests, many Egyptians have voiced deep frustrations and legitimate concerns. At the same time, military interference in the affairs of any State is of concern.

“Therefore, it will be crucial to quickly reinforce civilian rule in accordance with principles of democracy,” he says in the statement.

“The world is watching closely the next steps with the hope that Egyptians will remain on a peaceful course, overcome the deep difficulties they are facing today, and find the needed common ground to move forward in a transition for which so many fought so courageously,” the statement concludes.