The Islands and Small States Institute at the Foundation for International Studies (FIS), in collaboration with the Economics Department of the University of Malta and with the support of the Commonwealth Secretariat, will be organising an international conference on "Small states and economic resilience" at the FIS between April 23 and 25.

The conference is a follow-up of three previous workshops on "Economic vulnerability and resilience with special reference to small states", which were organised by the Institute in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat and were held at the University of Malta's Gozo Centre.

The other three workshops were mostly of a technical nature, and led to the construction of a Resilience Index which was developed by the University of Malta. This index, when coupled with the vulnerability index, also developed by the University, can be used to assess the risk of a country being harmed by external shocks.

The conference will discuss different aspects of economic resilience, including macro-economic stability, market adjustment, social development, and political governance in small states. Ministers, ambassadors and experts from small states will be participating.

Maltese nationals who wish to participate at the conference are to complete and return the registration form available at: http://events.um.edu.mt/resilience2007

Further information can be obtained from the Islands and Small States Institute, Foundation for International Studies, St Paul Street, Valletta, tel: 2124-8218, e-mail: islands@um.edu.mt