Saturday, July 18^th

 9:00 – 9:30 Opening Remarks
Paul Salem, The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS)
Ishac Diwan, Economic Development Institute (EDI), World Bank

9:30 – 10:15 Governance in a Broad Context
Paul Bernd Spahn, University of Frankfurt at Main

10:15 – 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 – 11:15 Overview of Worldwide Trends and Lessons of Decentralization
Robert Ebel, World Bank (EDI)

11:15 – 12:00 Civil Service Reform & Decentralization: Issues for the MENA Region
Jamal Al-Kibbi, World Bank (EDI)

 Country Studies and Discussion

12:00 – 1:00 Egypt
Sayed Ghanim, University of Cairo
William Fox, University of Tennessee

1:00 – 2:15 Lunch

 2:15 – 3:15 Tunisia
Nejib Belaid, Université de Sousse

 3:15 – 3:45 Coffee Break

3:45 – 4:45 Morocco
Shalahadinne Ben Youssef , Local Finance Group, Ministry of Interior

4:45 – 5:45 Yemen
Paul Bernd Spahn, University of Frankfurt

 Sunday, July 19^th

 9:15 – 10:15 Jordan
Adnan M. Hayajneh, Ahl al-Bayt University

10:15 – 11:15 Syria: The Challenges and Problems of Research
Nabil Sukkar, The Syrian Consulting Bureau for Development and Investment (SCB)

11:15 – 11:30 Coffee Break

 11:30 – 12:30 Lebanon
Sami Atallah and Michelle Touma, The Lebanese Center for Policy Studies

12:30 – 1:30 Closing Discussion and Review of Status of MDF and the Book Project

1:30 Lunch