Past Events

Will China, as some observers claim, rule the world in the 21st century? Is it inevitable that China will become a global economic leader? And will China carve out a corresponding role in security and military policy – even be on par with the United States?

Few companies have been able to exercise such an influence in foreign countries like Gazprom’s, Russia’s state-owned energy firm. But Gazprom’s standing in the European energy market is about to change profoundly. It can no longer control prices as it did in the past. The shale gas revolution and antitrust cases against Gazprom will force it to not only to reduce its prices but also change its coveted structure of long-term contracts. Gazprom has recently abandoned some its larger projects and new energy market competition will continue to erode its revenues.

The public healthcare sectors around Europe are under pressure to cut expenditures. At the same time, there has been an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the last decades. As one of the main risk factor behind chronic and non-communicable diseases such as type-2 diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases, the scenario of an ageing population affected by obesity is likely to increase the cost pressure on the healthcare systems.

A busy trade agenda lies ahead for the United States. After years of relative inactivity in the trade field, the U.S. is now seeking to anticipate events while engaging on several fronts. The on-going negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with South-east Asian and Latin American countries illustrate the so-called Asian pivot in current U.S. trade politics. At the same time, President Obama is also reaching out to Europe. Together, the U.S. and the EU are embarking on a major trade policy initiative as the launch of negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Agreement is likely to be imminent.

Is the entire world of central banks (but the European Central Bank) going off the rails – or are they deliberately moving in the direction of market monetarism: central banks that use other instruments than the interest rate to support demand and economic recovery by targeting the nominal gross domestic product?

The World Bank Regional Vice-Presidency for Middle East & North Africa (MENA) and The European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) invite you to a book launch and discussion event: From Political to Economic Awakening in the Arab World: The Path of Economic Integration

The competitiveness of EU manufacturing is increasingly dependent on services. Logistics, maintenance, consulting, financing and data processing are integral part of any competitive offering in technology, machinery, processing and consumer businesses. Efficient services consumed by the manufacturing companies in their daily operations are also an integral part of their competitiveness. Services provided and consumed by EU manufacturing contribute to a significant share of their incomes. Services have transformed the way goods are traded while digitalisation has turned many goods into services – a concept we call servicification.

Liberalisation of trade in services is currently not progressing under the Doha round of trade negotiations. Instead, plurilateral and regional agreements have currently become the most common way to advance liberalisation and co-operation. In relation to this, the European Commission recently requested a mandate from the Council to engage in negotiations on a new plurilateral international agreement on trade in services (ISA). 


One of the driving forces of trade expansion in the past two decades has been the globalisation and fragmentation of supply chains in international business. Recently, a new data base by the WTO and the OECD has shed lights on how transformative this force has been, reinforcing the anecdotal and scattered evidence existing before. But what are the implications for trade-policy strategy? How should strategies to free up trade and establish stronger disciplines be designed as to fit with how global trade work today?

No doubt the world economy is undergoing some profound structural changes. Even if the crises in the past years have been felt everywhere, rising and globalising Asia – together with some economies in other parts of the world – has continued its rapid economic expansion. It represents a large portion of global production, trade and investment – and the lion share of world growth for the rest of this decade is estimated by the International Monetary Fund and others to be generated in Asia.