Tarik Yousef Participates in First International Development Conference of Syria

On January 23 and 24, The Syria Trust for Development under the patronage of H.E. Mrs. Asma al-Assad convened the country's first ever forum to exchange experiences in international development and discuss the particular development issues and challenges facing Syria and the region.

Tarik Yousef, dean of the Dubai School of Government and nonresident senior fellow at the Wolfensohn Center for Development at Brookings, joined leading international, regional and local experts to explore how to promote the engagement of civil society in development. Additional thematic areas of focus at the conference included: youth-focused interventions, rural development, institutions and reform, learning and ICT, employment and entrepreneurship, and human development, among others.

The keynote address on January 23 was delivered by Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, former Minister of State in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. Additional speakers included H.E. Abdullah Dardari, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs in Syria, and representatives from the Ministry of Education in Syria, Syria Trust for Development, American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Issam Fares Institute at AUB, UNDP, Jordan Education Initiative, Population Council, Arab NGO Network for Development, World Bank, Arab Planning Institute, UNESCO, and the European Parliament, among others.

Coverage of the conference and Tarik Yousef's participation:

(25 January 2010) البعث: بحضور السيدة أسماء الأسد.. مؤتمر التنمية الأول اختتم أعماله تكامل الأدوار لتحقيق التنمية المستدامة

(24 January 2010) سانا: اختتام أعمال المؤتمر الدولي الأول للتنمية في سورية ...التأكيد على أهمية تكامل الأدوار بين الحكومة والقطاع الخاص والمجتمع الأهلي في عملية التنمية

SANA: First International Conference of Development in Syria concludes activities (24 January 2010)