European Investment Bank Vice-President Alexander Stubb led the EIB’s participation in the second conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region” in Brussels on 24 and 25 April 2018. The conference, co-chaired by Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Mark Lowcock, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, also saw 85 high level delegations from the EU Member States, countries of the region, third countries and international organisations participating.

The EIB, acting as a Fund of Funds Manager, signed three operational agreements for the amount of PLN 378m (approx. EUR 85 m. equivalent) with Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, Poland’s national promotional bank, to support urban regeneration projects in the Polish regions of Pomerania, Mazovia and Silesia.

Iceland must do more to ensure its law enforcement authorities are coordinated and adequately resourced to investigate and prosecute economic and financial crime, including foreign bribery, says the OECD in a new report.

Despite Portugal’s economic and political challenges, it is still committed to improving the environment. The government sees green investment in its stimulus package and green tax reform as part of the solution to the national budget deficit.

Korea tops a new OECD PISA survey that tests how 15-year olds use computers and the Internet to learn. The next best performers were New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Hong-Kong China and Iceland.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría has congratulated Christine Lagarde on her appointment as the IMF’s next Managing Director.

Norway has made significant progress in its efforts against the bribery of foreign public officials in recent years, according to a new OECD report. But more could be done to strengthen enforcement, including by focusing on the confiscation from companies of the proceeds of bribery.

Health spending continues to rise faster than economic growth in most OECD countries, maintaining a trend observed since the 1970s. Health spending reached 9.5% of GDP on average in 2009, the most recent year for which figures are available, up from 8.8% in 2008, according to OECD Health Data 2011.

Luxembourg must step up its efforts to detect and prosecute cases of bribery of foreign public officials, particularly now that its legal framework has been strengthened, in compliance with the Anti-Bribery Convention

Austria should eliminate subsidies which encourage early retirement and target social transfers more effectively, according to the OECD’s latest economic survey.