New Issues and Opportunities in Resource-based Development

Date: October 6, 2010 10:00am – 11:30am
Location: World Bank Group Annual Meetings, Washington D.C.

During the World Bank Group Annual Meetings in Washington DC, the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment co-hosted a side-event entitled “New Issues and Opportunities in Resource-based Development,” featuring a talk and discussion with Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

The global economy faces a new wave of resource-based investments in low-income countries. The rising global prices of minerals, food grains, and hydrocarbons have led to greatly up-scaled investment activity in low-income Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Once again the specter of the resource-curse looms. This talk addressed the ongoing challenge of converting resource-based investments into successful sustainable development in low-income countries, including the design of tools for that purpose, such as special-purpose natural-resource funds, public-private infrastructure partnerships, and extractive-industry transparency initiatives. A Q&A and discussion following the talk was moderated by Karin Lissakers, former US Executive Director to the IMF and currently the Director of The Revenue Watch Institute.