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You Say You Want a Revolution...
As I return from a week-long mission to Lebanon and Jordan, where I took part in a workshop to teach government agencies about MIGA's mission and products and met potential clients to discuss...
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The Arab Spring, History, and Political Economy
People in Maghreb and Mashreq countries, long used to being muzzled by their authoritarian regimes, are rising up to make their voices heard. This movement — if one can call it that — started first in...
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Let's Have More of These
I recently returned from Ethiopia where I visited a project that is being covered by MIGA’s political risk insurance. The project involves the privatization and expansion of an existing farm to...
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Honor Thy Sovereign Financial Obligations
In December 2010 and again in April 2011, MIGA issued contracts representing many "firsts" for the agency -- our first two non-honoring of sovereign financial obligations contracts, our first coverage...
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How Risky, Really, Is the Arab World for Investors? Take Two.
In June 2010 I posted a blog on political risks for investors in the Arab world. The blog (and associated Perspectives note) argued that it was probably a mistake to lump all Arab countries together,...
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The Nitty Gritty of Supporting Islamic Finance, from MIGA
MIGA recently closed its second transaction supporting a project with an Islamic financing structure—the first was for a port project in Djibouti back in 2007. For this new project, MIGA provided...
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Managing Risk and Keeping Focused in Turbulent Times
It’s been almost a year since Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire, sparking a wave of protests in his country and ensuing events that led to what we now refer to as the “Arab...
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On Optimism and Caution: Connecting East Asia
It was all about connectivity in the just-concluded World Economic Forum for East Asia that took place in Bangkok last week. Participants pondered many questions related to how we could make this...
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Does Richard Gere Have the Right Political Risk Mitigation Strategy?
In the new film “Arbitrage” the character played by Richard Gere thought he had made a highly profitable mining investment in an Eastern European country with a “friendly” government. But suddenly...
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MIGA in Libya: Boldly Going Where No Political Risk Insurer Has Gone Before
Last month, MIGA signed its very first contract of guarantee for a project in Libya. The guarantee covers an investment by Jafara Company to expand a beverage and harissa plant outside of Tripoli....
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The Palestinian Private Sector: Resilience in the Face of Harsh Conditions
I recall the first time I visited Nakheel Palestine for Agricultural Investments Company fields at Jericho two years ago, when MIGA was still at the early stages of underwriting the project...
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Partnership in Political Risk: Singapore Goes Global!
On February 22, MIGA partnered with the Singapore Management University (SMU) and International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore), to launch the most recent World Investment and Political Risk...
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New challenges, new alliances
Multilateral organizations and Southern Europe can do more to cooperate to restore these countries’ global competitiveness One of the lessons learned from the past few years is that economic...
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Nuevos desafíos, nuevas alianzas
Los Organismos Multilaterales y los países del Sur de Europa deben cooperar más intensamente para restablecer la competitividad global de sus economías. Una de las lecciones aprendidas en los últimos...
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Smartly Tapping Global Markets: A Driver for the Rise of the South
We’ve become accustomed to talk about the rise of the “global South” in business and economic circles—as these past several years have seen developing countries (mostly BRICs, but also others) surging...
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Iberoamerica: Contributing to the long-term prosperity of a continent
During my recent business development trip to Spain to represent MIGA at a forum on Latin American port infrastructure organized by Tecniberia, I had an opportunity to see with my own eyes and...
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Iberoamérica: Contribuyendo a la prosperidad a largo plazo de un continente
Durante mi reciente viaje a España para representar MIGA en un foro sobre el futuro de las infraestructuras portuarias en Iberoamerica organizado por Tecniberia, tuve la oportunidad de comprobar y...
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Let the lights shine, hopefully for 24 hours a day (as needed)
Growing up in war-torn Beirut, I experienced the Lebanese Civil War from a childlike perspective. I was in middle school at the time when a power outage lingered for months on end. Reviewing textbooks...
View ArticleAgricultural FDI: Risky Business?
Al-Arabiya reported a few weeks ago that the political crisis in Ukraine and Russia is threatening the availability of food in Egypt and Jordan. Food prices becoming hostage to political crises is...
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Winning the Game of Mining Taxation
The last few years have brought an uptick in the number of mining investments that have been the subject of disputes between investors and governments. This trend is of considerable concern to the...
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