The workshop, which is being held in cooperation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the World Bank, will address issues of road safety management in line with United Nations guidelines and international best practices.

The economies of most Arab countries were less affected by the global financial crisis compared to other economies. Several factors contributed to the alleviation of the impact of the crisis on Arab countries, including the minimal dependency of non-oil producing economies, especially financial markets, on the global economy; and the flexibility acquired by major oil-producing countries from their cash reserves. This issue of the Annual Review examines the impact of the global financial crisis on the Arab economies.

A group of Political Studies students from the University of Helsinki visited ESCWA on 16 May 2012 and learned about its objectives and programmes. The students were briefed on the role of ESCWA, as one of the United Nations Regional Commissions, and the opportunities and challenges facing the region. The briefing emphasized the regional priority agenda, especially the Rio+20 Conference, which will convene in June 2012, and the efforts of ESCWA in the regional preparations for this event.

ESCWA developed a quantitative model and tool to assess the viability of pension systems and applied Tunisian data as a case study. The model results for Tunisia reveal that pension reforms have differentiated impacts in terms of growth, fiscal sustainability and intergenerational distribution. The user-friendly interface developed for the model allows policy makers to easily simulate any combination of reforms and observe their fiscal and economic effect on the country. The model and interface can be customized and applied to UNESWA member countries.