This paper aims at providing technical details on trade indicators that are commonly and frequently used in ESCWA studies and assessments.

In the past decade, civil society organizations in the Arab region have achieved significant improvements in performance and capacity to request change with respect to certain issues. However, that improvement was neutralized by an improvement in the capacity of the authorities to contain the voices of civil society and deprive its organizations of the human capacity necessary for their survival, by appointing their leaders and activists to ministerial, administrative and diplomatic posts, thereby dissuading them from claiming the integration of civil society demands into public policy.

Haidar Fraihat, Director, ESCWA Information and Communication Technology Division, and Ayman Sherbini, Chief of the ESCWA Information and Communication Technology Policies Section, are heading to the headquarters of the Paris based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to participate in the First WSIS+10 Review Meeting entitled “Towards Knowledge Societies for Peace and Sustainable Development”, which will be held on 25 - 27 February 2013.

Around the world, even the greatest powers have opted to be part of larger regional entities in order to manage globalization and the competition it brings. Meanwhile, Arab countries which share a common historical, cultural and spiritual heritage and are bound by one language remain fragmented and divided and try to face individually external pressures, domestic challenges and emerging risks, in a world growing more interconnected and complex each day.