World Bank Annual Meetings

On the last day of the World Bank Meetings, UNDP Turkey organized a session on the 2009 Human Development Report, titled “Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development.” The panel had some great speakers, including Kemal Dervis, former UNDP Administrator and current director of the Brookings Institution.

The session started with a very obvious question: in a world marred by global recession, financial markets in a state of shock and turmoil, and rampant uncertainty despite some positive signs of a bottom out, why did this year’s HDR choose to look at mobility and migrants? Interestingly enough, when you gain a better understanding of what migration means for both the “giving” and the “receiving” states, the answer is pretty clear.