Invitation to the Presentation of Report: World Development Report 2024: The Middle-Income Trap

The World Bank office in the Kyrgyz Republic and the University of Central Asia are pleased to invite you to attend the presentation of the World Development Report. The event will take place on February 3, 2025, 14.00 – 16.30 (Bishkek time). Mr. Somik Lall (WDR Director, World Bank) and Mr. Ivailo Izvorski (Chief Economist for Europe and Central Asia, World Bank) will deliver presentations. Mr Hugh Riddell, Country Manager, World Bank and Prof. Christopher Gerry, Rector of UCA will formally welcome the event participants.

The 2024 World Development Report sets out to provide a simple but reliable growth framework for avoiding or escaping the trap. It identifies lessons from more than 50 years of successes and failures among developing countries while they were climbing the income ladder. Based on these ideas and evidence, it proposes a sequenced, three-pronged approach for today’s 100-odd middle-income countries: first investment, then infusion of new technology from around the world, and then innovation. Each shift requires a new mix of policies that, if implemented reasonably well, result in increasingly dynamic enterprises, an increasingly productive workforce, and an increasingly energy-efficient economy. This approach can benefit all countries—low-, middle-, and high-income—seeking high-quality growth.                                                                                             

The ECA companion report Greater Heights: Growing to High Income in Europe and Central Asia discusses the historical transition of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) from planned to market economies in the early 1990s. While twelve countries have achieved high-income status, middle-income countries face slower growth as they progress, with moderated convergence to advanced economies. This report uses the 2024 World Development Report’s "3i" framework—Investment, Infusion, and Innovation—as a strategic approach to address these challenges and provides policy options on how to grow to high income. Drawing on comprehensive empirical analysis, the report emphasizes that the transition to high income in Europe and Central Asia requires continued foundational reforms to sustain growth momentum. This publication offers practical recommendations for policymakers to advance inclusive and sustainable economic growth across the region.

The presentations will be conducted in English with simultaneous translation into Russian.

We look forward to your participation in the presentation.                                                  

Agenda

Registration
We are kindly requesting you to register via following LINK for in-person participation by February 1, 2025.

Topic: World Development Report
Time: February 3, 2025 14:00, Bishkek
Format: online and in-person
Join Zoom Meeting: https://worldbankgroup.zoom.us/j/97794981990?pwd=teYeubdwUh4ZaQaOulgF7Z9l42TvX6.1
Meeting ID: 977 9498 1990
Passcode: 3?y5wt?JWp