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The decision, by a national government or a port authority, to contract out the development and operation of a container terminal facility to a qualified private operator sets in motion a process involving relationships with quite a different set of players compared to traditional port operations and management. It also most often requires a change in the function of the port authority, either from service provider to regulator, or from licensing authority to long-term contract manager, or a mix of both. Whatever the specific local conditions in play, this means a clear evolution in the respective roles of the public and private players having to work together to deliver the services expected by the clients of the port and the national economy at large. Effectively dealing with experienced private container terminal operators requires public counterparts, port authorities and government administrations, to master the legal and institutional skills necessary to reach balanced and profitable arrangements for their countries. Even when the required legal framework has been thoroughly established, existing institutions may find it hard to adjust to dealing with partners whose short-term objectives may not at first sight coincide systematically with the long-term policy goals of public authorities. However, past and current experience does show that both can be preserved, provided both sides have the tools and skills needed to reach an effective contractual agreement. Not surprisingly, as this is the nature of the markets they have been operating in, private operators will bring to the negotiation table very strong legal competencies and experienced negotiating skills. Since these skills were not so much required to deliver their usual mandate so far, many port authorities may lack at the outset a comparable capacity. While on-the-job training will definitely be part of the learning process, specialized assistance by transaction management professionals is often warranted. The Guidelines will identify key areas that typically may need support to ensure a successful outcome.

Contract Law --- Law and Development --- Ports --- Private Sector Development Law --- Transport

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Over the last two decades, successive governments and business leaders in the former Yugoslav Republic of (FYR) Macedonia have been actively working to transform the country's economy and put it on a higher, technology-based, growth trajectory. For a small, landlocked country with a limited domestic market and a weak industrial base, this requires building a private sector that is competitive, export oriented,and integrated into global value chains (GVCs). In FYR Macedonia, where 23.7 percent of the labor force is unemployed and 30.7 percent of the population lives on less than USD 5 a day (2016 data),creating an attractive, competitive, and export-oriented private sector-one that leverages the country's proximity to developed European markets and world-class enterprises-has become a political and strategic economic objective of the highest priority. This report describes the parameters of an aggressive reform and investment promotion effort in FYR Macedonia that began a decade ago and moved the country's manufacturing sector toward higher value added, technology-based production with a unique focus on automotive component manufacturing. Readers interested in learning how a small country located in the Balkans region with a-priori low potential was able to reform its institutions, promote itself, and attract foreign direct investment (FDI) should find it useful. So will readers that are interested in industry specific strategies that go beyond first generation business environment reforms. Much of the report is a look backwards, to describe the parameters of the program, how it was executed, and results that were achieved. However, future steps are also proposed. The program is still very much a work in progress, and while very real and significant gains have been made-much to the credit of the country-certain aspects of it could be improved. Parts of the program are also in the process of being reshaped to reach new objectives, many of them related to sustainability. How well the government of FYR Macedonia focuses on new objectives defined by this transitional shift and directs future resources to encourage the processes there to go forward, will be a determining factor in whether its companies, and the country as whole, will be able to take the economy to a new level of competitiveness.

Business Environment --- Competitiveness and Competition Policy --- Export Competitiveness --- Law and Development --- Private Sector Development --- Private Sector Development Law --- Public Sector Development

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The pace at which markets are evolving, thanks to the accelerated adoption of digital technologies, poses important challenges to competition law and its enforcement. This work aims to support this process by building an understanding of the experiences of competition authorities in deciding on competition enforcement cases in the digital economy. This note analyzes the global digital antitrust database of the markets, competition, and technology unit (the MCT DAD or the database) and provides a summary of key patterns and trends in antitrust in the digital economy (and specifically in relation to digital platforms firms). This database aims to be a holistic source of information on abuse of dominance, anticompetitive agreements, and merger cases involving digital platforms, which have been finalized by antitrust authorities worldwide. It also identifies some risks to competition arising from various digital platform business models in different sectors and generates learnings for antitrust authorities globally on the approach to assessing such cases. The analysis contributes to the discussion and learning on competition assessments in the digital economy. The data also show how different sectors may be prone to different types of anticompetitive behavior, depending on the typical business models of digital platforms. Antitrust authorities in less developed countries should be encouraged to participate more actively in the debate on data protection and privacy as a dimension of competition. Finally, authorities should continue to strive to make their decisions public and provide clarity about the factors justifying their decisions.

Competitiveness and Competition Policy --- Digital Divide --- E-Business --- Information and Communication Technologies --- Law and Development --- Mergers And Acquisitions --- Private Sector Development --- Private Sector Development Law

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This report reviews practical and implementable interventions that have significantpotential for the creation of an enabling environment for private sector adaptation and the promotion of climate resilient development paths. While there is a broad spectrum of conditions favorable to climate change adaptation, five priority areas are highlighted in this report: data and information, institutional arrangements, policies, economic incentives, and communication, technology and knowledge. In each of these areas, specific interventions of promoting private sector adaptation are analyzed, with an emphasis on them expected economic, social and environmental returns. Measures, indicators and examples are also provided to inform private sector organizations and policy makers about where conditions for adaptation investment are favorable, and what specific improvements can enhance a country's environment for attracting private investment in climate change adaptation. Acknowledging that further work needs to be done to develop detailed guidance and indices for objective evaluation of levels of the enabling environment for adaptation, this study aims to produce initial indicators for systematic support of climate resilient development in the private sector context.

Adaptation --- Adaptation to Climate Change --- Business Environment --- Climate Change --- Corporate Social Responsibility --- Environment --- Environmental Economics & Policies --- Environmental Policy --- Law and Development --- Private Sector Development --- Private Sector Development Law

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A new set of survey questions is used to map governance structures that firms employ to support the successful implementation of transactions. Responses to the questions were collected as part of the Enterprise Surveys in six South American countries. Without imposing any a priori model, latent class analysis (LCA) discovers meaningful patterns of governance structures that readily match constructs in the literature. All governance structures use bilateralism. Bilateralism and formal institutions are sometimes complements, but never substitutes. For each firm, LCA provides estimates of the posterior probability that the firm uses each of the discovered governance structures. These estimates can be used by researchers to go further, testing their own hypotheses relevant to Williamson's discriminating alignment agenda using additional data from the Enterprise Surveys or elsewhere. Variations in the effectiveness of different governance structures across countries and across different types of firms and transactions are explored. Regional variation within countries is greater than cross-country variation. Foreign-owned firms, exporters, larger firms, and better-managed ones are more likely to use governance structures that complement bilateralism with use of the legal system or with the help of paid third-parties.

Employment and Unemployment --- Governance --- Industry --- Law --- Law and Development --- Legal Contract --- Marketing --- Primary Metals --- Private Sector Development Law --- Private Sector Economics --- Public Sector Development --- Public Sector Management and Reform --- Regulation --- Settlement of Investment Disputes --- Transactions