The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies organized in collaboration with the World Bank a review workshop for the “Case Studies on Policy Initiatives and Reforms in the MENA Region” that LCPS was organizing in Beirut on February 23-24, 2004, at the Gefinor Rotana Hotel.

Studies discussed at the workshop looked at customs administration in Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco; the Quena governate in Egypt and local government performance in Lebanon; the Aqaba Autonomous Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) in Jordan and the Yemen Port Cities Development Program (YPCDP); and the Alexandria Friends of the Environment. There was an animated discussion of the various case studies, which provided an opportunity for the authors to take advice on how to improve and modify their papers. The workshop was especially useful to help place these studies of micro-reform in a wider context, and even in a comparative perspective.

The workshop allowed participants to have a critical exchange on various draft case studies and to work together towards final drafts and also towards a convergence of their approach to successful institutional and policy reforms in the Middle East and North Africa Region.