Pakistan Islamic Republic

On July 23, 2007, leaders of the U.S. military and NGO community celebrated a promising moment for civil-military relations in peace operations: the rollout of guidelines that will serve as "rules of the road" for how the two entities should operate in hostile environments.

Facilitated by the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Guidelines seek to mitigate frictions between military and NGO personnel over the preservation of humanitarian space in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. Principles in the Guidelines include ensuring that military personnel wear uniforms when conducting relief activities to avoid being mistaken for nongovernmental humanitarian organization representatives. Conversely, it recommends that, to the extent practical, humanitarian relief personnel avoid traveling in U.S. Armed Forces vehicles, with the exception of liaison personnel.

The heads of both the U.S. military and InterAction (an umbrella organization for U.S. NGOs) have endorsed the Guidelines and will be disseminating them throughout their organizations. Two years in the making, the effort represents "a desire from both sides to move beyond polemics to proactive problem solving," said Jeb Nadaner, deputy assistant secretary of defense for stability operations at the Pentagon.

NGO leaders likewise expressed optimism at the potential for change. "We do not want to understate the importance of this document for us," said Sam Worthington, InterAction president and CEO. "We believe that these Guidelines will serve a purpose beyond U.S. NGOs to our global partners."

The initiative was launched in March 2005 when Ambassador Carlos Pascual, coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization at the U.S. State Department, asked the Institute to establish a Working Group on Civil-Military Relations in Nonpermissive Environments. What began as a dialogue between military and NGO leaders has resulted in a pioneering effort upon which both sides hope to expand. Military and NGO leaders intend to promulgate the Guidelines throughout their communities via media and education channels: NGOs will publish the Guidelines in their newsletters and literature; the military will incorporate the Guidelines into joint military doctrine publications. The next challenge lies in implementing the Guidelines in the field and creating a monitoring process by which the Guidelines can be continuously updated and revised.

Guidelines Handout

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The United States tops the overall ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008. Switzerland is in second position followed by Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland and Singapore, respectively.
The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its network of Partner Institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the Report. This year, over 11,000 business leaders were polled in a record 131 countries. View the interactive reportView interviews and photos of the Global Competitiveness Report 2007-08 co-authors.

Notes:
Fatimid Heritage Foundation supports heritage, education and peace activities to enhance knowledge, interfaith harmony and global pluralism. The FATIMID works to promote a more secure, equitable and prosperous world in conformity with the vision of His Highness Aga Khan. It is an expression of love and devotion Ismaili Muslims have for Aga Khan Fatimid Imam Caliph, 49th direct lineal descendant of Prophet Muhammad through his cousin and son-in-law, Aly, the first Imam-Caliph, and his wife Fatima, the Prophet's daughter. Aga Khan is the rope of love, wisdom and unity among interpretations of the Faith, and also bridge of confidence between West and Muslims. This year, the world is celebrating Golden Jubilee of the Imamat Caliphate of His Highness the Aga Khan. Year 2007 is also the Diamond Jubilee of the creation of Pakistan.Geneva Peace Development Centre (Geneva Peace) and Mountain Girls Education Development Program (MGEDP) are other development initiatives of The FATIMID. Geneva Peace is an international non-profit initiative working to promote theological and political consensus between West and Muslims, so as to enhance friendship and peace globally. The name is derived of admiration for Geneva, the city of 44 Nobel Prizes. A centre of excellence and decision-making in multiple domains, Geneva has become the principal forum of world negotiation, and a natural home to intense diplomatic and networking activity, due to the numerous International Organizations and NGOs located in the Lake Geneva area. MGEDP is a non-profit educational initiative co-founded by Anwar Merchant, Nazlin Anwar, Aziz and Shirin. Intellectual gender leadership of exceptional merit is the best motivation for future development of communities, and that mountain regions are too engulfed by poverty and hazards to develop their talented young girls as community leaders, led the family to found proposal for a network of catalytic centres of educational excellence around the mountain regions, known as the Mountain Girls Academies.The FATIMID is a Cooperating Organization with Development Gateway. Join DG communities here.

United Arab Emirates is the most competitive economy in the Arab world among the countries at the third and most advanced stage of development according to The Arab World Competitiveness Report 2007, released today by the World Economic Forum. It is followed by Qatar and Kuwait. Among countries at the second stage of development, Tunisia and Oman are the best performing Arab economies while Egypt is the regional best performer in the third group of countries.

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This year’s report has expanded coverage to 13 Arab economies – Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates. Libya, Oman and Syria are assessed for the first time. Rankings are presented in three country groups according to the stage of development to enable benchmarking against peers in other parts of the world.

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Competitiveness in the Arab World: Removing Obstacles to Growth
One I Two I Three I Four
Arabic
Enhancing Drivers of Growth in the Arab World
One I Two I Three I Four I Five

Future Competitiveness of the Arab World
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