The London Development Forum was held on 22 January 2011 on the London School of Economics’ campus. Human Dynamics was pleased to sponsor the conference in cooperation with the European Investment Bank. The entire program was a success, with a slew of note-worthy and top-tier speakers touching upon key aspects of this year’s topic, “Envisaging Sustainable Paths to Development,” which took a closer look at the benefits and costs of Public-Private Partnerships.
The event was kicked off by Professor Plutarchos Sakellaris, Vice-President of the EIB. He opened the forum with a discussion on the importance of stable political and economic institutions in ensuring sustainable development in a region. In light of his experience working with various levels of government he proposed which level he thought it best to handle development.
Professor Danny Quah, Economic Advisor to US President Barack Obama during transition and current Head of the Economics Department at LSE provided an overview of the course of development over the last 50 years, noting important trends and clusters throughout history. He also probed the question of whether these theories actually made any impact on the creation of real development progress.
Among the speakers present at the Forum was Claudia Rodriguez, a former member of the Board of Directors of Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). Ms. Rodriguez led the first Workshop on “Cooperation with the Private Sector in Development” in which she touched upon the development of PPP’s, looking at their varying level of success across different regions.
Professor Erik Berglöf, Chief Economist and Special Advisor to the President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) led a workshop on Trade Liberalization and Development in Eastern Europe. Mr. Berglöf used the region as a case study to examine the successes and failures of trade and economic integration. Lessons learned from this case could be applied to create successful economies in other up-and-coming regions.
The highlight of the event was a lecture given by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary General and Founder of the Millennium Promise Alliance, on the “Effectiveness of the United Nations in Global Development.” Mr. Sachs looked closely at the pros and cons of the UN’s past efforts and even offered up a few suggestions of his own on how to best proceed in a globalizing world.
At the beginning of the HD hosted lunch event, our very own Bernhard Hulla spoke on the necessity of public sector consulting groups in ensuring that development aid projects are sustained long after the withdrawal of foreign firms and government agencies. It was here that we also had the opportunity to discuss in a more informal fashion the issues raised at the conference with speakers and students.
The London Development Forum proved to be a great success for all who took part, enlightening and engaging students on a complicated and unresolved topic. It was an opportunity to closely examine pressing problems in today’s world that the youth will be dealing with long into the future. Their answers to today’s problems will shape how the global economy works tomorrow.