In collaboration with the Islamic Development Bank, the League of Arab States, the Arab Labor Organization, the Arab Organization for Administrative Development, and Basil Fuleihan Economic and Financial Institute , The Arab Planning Institute held its Tenth International Conference in Beirut, Lebanon, over the period 11-13, April 2011 under the theme: “Recent Trends in Financing Development”.

In the wake of the UN Millennium Declaration of September 2000, inclusive of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it was not surprising for the UN to call for an International Conference on Financing for Development (Monterrey, Mexico, 18-22 March 2002). Seven years later a follow-up International Conference was held in Doha, Qatar, (29 November- 2 December, 2008) to “review the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus. The two events signal the priority accorded to issues of financing for development by the international community.

The Doha Declaration on Financing for Development reaffirmed that “mobilizing financial resources for development and the effective use of all these resources are central” to the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs. It reiterated that “each country has the primary responsibility for its own economic and social development and that the role of national policies, domestic resources and development strategies cannot be overemphasized”. Nonetheless, the role of foreign resource flows, both private and public, in financing development in developing countries is also acknowledged.

In addition to issues of mobilization of domestic resources, foreign direct investment and other private flows, financial markets, official development assistance, external debts, The Doha declaration, coming seven years after Monterrey, noted the emergence new issues and challenges related to financing for development. These include the effect of the 2008 international financial crisis on the development finance sources listed above, the additional costs imposed by the increasing concerns about climate change, the increased volatility in the prices of primary commodities, the additional resource needs of countries emerging out of conflict, and the increasingly recognized special needs of middle-income countries.

The issues listed under the standard sources of development finance, and the development finance challenges that emerged since Monterey, constituted the topics dealt with in API’s 10th International Conference. Needless to note that the Conference topics relate to developing countries including Arab countries. In this respect it is not surmising to note that Arab Leaders, meeting in Kuwait 19-20 January 2009, accorded the above development finance issues a high priority in the Kuwait Declaration.

This volume is a selected collection of seven papers presented in the Conference. The selected papers, three in Arabic and four in English, deal with foreign direct investment, financing strategies for poverty reduction, and foreign aid (in Arabic); and, the impact of financial development on economic growth, fiscal space in Arab countries, the challenges of financing development in an era of globalization, and, the implications of financial globalization for Arab countries.

In publishing the selected paper we sincerely hope that readers, including researchers and policy makers, will find the volume useful.