DUSHANBE, November 25, 2008, Asia-Plus — IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, recently launched the fourth phase of its Central Asia Corporate Governance Project in Tajikistan: “Cooperation with Educational Establishments,” press release issued by the IFC Dushanbe office said.
As part of this initiative, IFC has introduced a Corporate Governance course at the Department of “Business & Finance” of the Tajik Institute of Entrepreneurship and Service. Last week IFC donated to the Institute”s library a series of publications on corporate governance, including books written by foreign authors, newsletters published by IFC”s Almaty-based team and other relevant publications by IFC and other international experts. In addition, to provide students with a better understanding of the local corporate sector, IFC will be providing the Institute on a monthly basis with a number of articles from the local newspaper “Biznes & Politika.”
“Currently, literature covering corporate governance issues in the region is limited. The publications presented to the Institute will be a valuable source of information for students of corporate governance,” said Tahmina Nurova, IFC Country Coordinator of the project in Tajikistan.
Achievements of the Project to Date as of July 1, 2008:
– Consulted or trained more than 1,100 individuals from more than 300 companies in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic on improving corporate governance practices;
– Held the first-ever training for regional educators on corporate governance in June 2008 to help develop educational curricula related to corporate governance;
– Key participants in a working group that drafted annotated comments to the Kazakhstan Model Corporate Governance Code, which were officially adopted in July 2007;
– Helped the Kyrgyz government to clarify director liability, shareholder rights and information disclosure in the legislation, which entered into law in June 2008;
– The Kazakhstan team held the first-ever round tables on corporate governance-related legal issues that had the participation of a Kazakh Supreme Court judge, commercial court judges and practicing attorneys.
The Central Asia Corporate Governance Project is funded and implemented by IFC.
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008, a 34 percent increase over the previous year.
