|**Middle East**|2009-<br>2010|The crisis forced 11 MENA jurisdictions to establish<br>dialog in order to reinforce the bankruptcy regime in<br>the<br>region.<br>In<br>May<br>2009,<br>in<br>Abu<br>Dhabi,<br>representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya,<br>Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, the United Arab<br>Emirates and West Bank and Gaza signed a joint<br>declaration on intended reform in the region. (the<br>“Abu Dhabi Declaration”) as part of a WorldBank/<br>OECD/ INSOL International/ Hawkamah sponsored<br>Forum on Insolvency Reform in MENA (FIRM).<br>Countries agreed to set up public-private partnerships<br>to strengthen and unify their bankruptcy regimes. The<br>insolvency laws in operation within the Dubai<br>International Financial Centre have been proposed as<br>a basis for the unification, as it offers cost-effective,<br>efficient and timely mechanisms for dealing with<br>insolvency and creditor/debtor rights issues (Saudi<br>Gazette2010)|Reform of bankruptcy and creditor rights is<br>aimed at improving economic efficiencies and<br>strengthening market resilience in times of<br>crisis (Saudi Gazette, 2010).|
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|**Poland**|2008|, .<br>Poland amended its bankruptcy law to permit the<br>option of reorganization prior to bankruptcy by<br>introducing<br>prepackaged<br>reorganizations<br>and<br>regulating the receiver profession. (World Bank,<br>2010). Also the U.S. Department of Commerce's 2009<br>Country Commercial Guide to Poland stated that the<br>courts are generally slow, but that reforms to the<br>insolvency regime are ongoing. It noted that the new<br>Bankruptcy Law permits filings by either the troubled<br>firm's board of directors or by creditors (U.S.<br>DepartmentofCommerce2010)|Poland was among the Eastern European and<br>Central Asian countries that led the world in<br>insolvency and credit reforms. As a result, the<br>average costs of bankruptcy procedures<br>dropped 2% and the recovery rate grew for<br>2%. (World Bank, 2009).|
|**Romania**|2008|, <br>As a result of the rising number of insolvency cases,<br>the government increased the cost of the liquidation<br>procedures attempting to stop falling market (The<br>Diplomat, 2010). A November 2008 amendment to its<br>insolvency law requires 1.5% of the amount recovered<br>from each insolvency procedure to go to a fund for<br>reimbursing<br>the<br>expenses<br>of<br>insolvency<br>administrators. The aim was to ensure that insolvency<br>administrators are paid even when debtors have no<br>assets, but the reform put additional constrains on<br>closinbusinesses(WorldBank2010)|The number of insolvencies rose by 25% in<br>2009 compared to 2008. A collapse in sales,<br>mostly in the residential market, forced 3,600<br>real estate and construction companies to enter<br>into insolvency. The reform reduced the<br>amount creditors recover in cases where the<br>company has assets and increases inefficiency<br>in cases where few or no assets are available<br>(The Diplomat, 2010).|
|**Russia**|2008-<br>2009|g . , <br>Russia's insolvency regime has undergone significant<br>reform in 2008-09. The reform introduced a set of<br>professional<br>requirements<br>for<br>administrators.<br>Moreover,<br>the<br>enforcement<br>issues<br>have<br>been<br>addressed with the introduction of a non-judicial<br>procedure for foreclosures, aimed at simplifying and<br>expediting the process. (EBRD, 2009b)|The 2010 EBRD report discloses that<br>legislative changes were expected to result in<br>substantial improvement in the position of<br>secured creditors. (EBRD, 2010)<br>The costs of a bankruptcy proceeding are of 9<br>% of the estate in Russia, compared to an<br>average regional cost of 13.5 %. (World Bank,<br>2009)|
|**Tajikistan**|2010|The changes to the law “On Bankruptcy” reduced<br>statutory time limits and the costs of proceedings.<br>(USAID, 2009)|The reform is expected to reduce the time<br>required for closing a business from three to<br>two 2 years, decrease the cost of bankruptcy<br>from 9% to 2% of total asset values, and<br>increase the ratio of funds recovered for<br>investors from 25.4 cents to 35 cents per U.S.<br>dollar. (USAID,2009)|

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