The Guinean government assigns a
crucial role to agriculture in accelerating growth, reducing
poverty, and creating jobs. This role is inscribed in
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) 3, which was
approved by the government in May 2013, following PRSP 2
(2007-2010) and PRSP 1 (2002-2006). As part of the revival
of its agricultural development strategy, the government
through the Ministry of Agriculture expressed its desire for

The purpose of this paper is to outline
an approach for Bank engagement in forests, trees, and
woodlands on farms in Sub-Saharan Africa for the coming five
years. The paper takes the framework of the Africa
development strategy, which has two main pillars: supporting
employment and competitiveness, and building resilience and
reducing vulnerability; and one underlying foundation:
strengthening capacity and governance. It is consistent with

This report explores the role of trade
facilitation and logistics in driving export and ultimately
national competitiveness. It posits that this area of trade
consists of three interrelated pillars: (i) transport
infrastructure and logistics services; (ii) regulatory
procedures for exports and imports; and (iii) supply chain
organization. Transport infrastructure and logistics
services relate to the physical aspects of trade flows.

This report provides estimates of social
and financial costs of environmental damage in India from
three pollution damage categories: (i) urban air pollution,
including particulate matter and lead; (ii) inadequate water
supply, poor sanitation, and hygiene; (iii) indoor air
pollution; and four natural resource damage categories: (a)
agricultural damage from soil salinity, water logging, and
soil erosion; (b) rangeland degradation; (c) deforestation;

This Investment Climate Assessment (ICA)
seeks to evaluate the conditions under which the Palestinian
private sector currently operates in the West Bank
(including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza strip. This
assessment is both an update and expansion on a similar
assessment undertaken by the World Bank in 2006. As such, it
provides both a snapshot of the investment climate in 2013,
as well as a longitudinal view of what has changed in the

This volume presents a synthesis of the multi-country collaborative program of analytical and advisory activities titled reducing vulnerability to climate change in European and Central Asian (ECA) agricultural systems. Climate change and its impacts on agricultural systems and rural economies are already evident throughout the ECA region. Adaptation measures now in use in the region-largely piecemeal efforts-would be insufficient to prevent impacts on agricultural production over the coming decades.

Kazakhstan aspires to become one of the
world s 30 most developed economies by 2050. The focus is on
laying the basis for the accelerated diversification of the
economy through industrialization and infrastructure
development, including enhancing human capital to drive
innovation and economic efficiency. This country economic
memorandum report adopts an analytical framework that looks
into options that will be explored to help authorities think

Pakistan's rebound from the global
financial crisis has been slow and fragile, and unless the
economy changes course swiftly, it could face its second
balance of payments crisis in five years. Its recovery from
the 2008-09 global financial crisis has been the weakest in
South Asia, with a double dip pattern. This report
identifies conditions for a sustainable job-enhancing growth
agenda for Pakistan. Policy must target both goals as they

The global extreme poverty rate has
fallen by half since 1990, but progress within the
developing world has been uneven. Extreme poverty remains
widespread in most low-income countries while many
middle-income countries also continue to have substantial
levels with many people there who have escaped extreme
poverty remaining poor and vulnerable. Nor has there been
robust progress in sharing prosperity: in many developing

The increasing resilience to climate
change in the agricultural sector report presents
local-level priorities, informed by stakeholder input, to
build agricultural resilience in both countries. The
objectives of this study were threefold: (1) to improve the
understanding of climate change projections and impacts on
rural communities and livelihoods in selected regions of
Jordan and Lebanon, specifically the Jordan River Valley and

The forestry sector in Moldova faces
significant governance and sustainability challenges. The
insufficient level of forest coverage in Moldova has a
serious impact on environment and overall economic growth in
the country. The situation is exacerbated by the reportedly
intense pressure on forest resources exerted by the human
factor. Illegal logging and grazing are considered as
significant factors that contribute to forest loss. There is

This Country Economic Memorandum (CEM)
sets a framework for a dialogue on inclusive economic growth
and income convergence in Romania. Generous Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) and other financial inflows lifted consumer
demand, built up key industries, modernized wholesale trade
and unleashed the movement of labor from low-productivity
activities like agriculture towards high-productivity
activities like manufacturing. Public and private