DIALOGUE EXCLUSIVE > Ridha Hamiani, former Algerian Minister of SMEs, and President of the Forum of Business Leaders

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What kind of measures do you recommend to ensure the economic stability of the region, in the wake of the ongoing global economic crisis?

“Economic stability in the region would be better off if economic policies were convergent, and in the absence of a single currency, which is unthinkable at present, it would be appropriate for monetary policies to be jointly conducted in accordance with a commonly adopted medium-term strategy.

Similarly, trade policies should be more or less aligned by targeting common goals, particularly with regard to major global zones, chiefly Europe.

The key issue, in order to ensure a significant economic growth, is to connect the various north African markets with the view of forming an extended group that would cover a large number of consumers (200 million) with a purchasing power not totally dependent on exports (including energy), but on a strong domestic demand driven by a vigorous revival policy supported by exceptional public expenditure devoted, among other things, to infrastructure projects (as in Algeria).”

What role can the private sector play in ensuring economic and social progress?

“The private sector is the real driving force for an endogenous economic development that will provide maximum economic efficiency and flexibility capable to adapt almost naturally to the current situation, whether at the domestic or global level. Its social role is less clear. This is not what is expected from it. It is up to the state to implement appropriate social policies.”

How can one create opportunities to improve the welfare of population in your region and in your country?

“The well being of people depends to a large extent on the policies implemented by the State. They are designed to engage specific programs in the following areas:

-1- Social policy driven by social transfers aiming to establish a health policy that supports the costs of hospitalization and medicines; a retirement policy; accidents care coverage,

-2- A Training and Education policy,

-3- Opportunities are to be created in most part by the State by modulating its fiscal, monetary and social policy, and

-4- In the same way, business leaders have to assume their part in implementing this policy through local investment to increase the distributed income; improvement of the environment (at least to avoid further pollution); training and contributing to the payment of social security fees.”

What measures can Arab states adopt to enable them to build a strong regional economy and advance social development?

 “Arab States could learn from the European project that started in 1957 with the Treaty of Rome until the adoption of a single currency.

Specifically, action needs to be taken towards:

-1- Creating a single market gradually, while ensuring the prior implementation of a vigorous policy aimed at upgrading enterprises and the economic environment at large,

-2- Harmonizing monetary, fiscal, tax and social policies,

-3- Developing the idea of a common future shared by the largest number of Arab populations,

-4- Ensuring fully and swiftly the unhampered movement of people and property,

-5- Negotiating with the rest of the world through common institutions on which the various Arab states are democratically represented, and

-6- Providing as such a united, interdependent and responsible front.”

How can we secure/advance food sufficiency, sustainable environment, energy sufficiency and better transportation infrastructure?

“Self-sufficiency depends on the investments achieved in the sector and the land policies adopted to implement production programs that rely on bigger production units.

As irrigation plays a central and vital role, it is imperative to conduct sea water desalination efforts to be more or less combined with the exploitation of the fossil waters of the Albien.

The agricultural research institutes should be involved to improve species and agricultural yield.

Environmental sustainability must involve all actors implicated in the economic growth process. Initially, there should be at all levels, an awareness of the seriousness of this issue. Public administrations must set an example and the test-operation that should be launched by them in the first place could be the cleanup of the Mediterranean.

Energy self-sufficiency is assessed differently depending on whether or not the country is an oil and gas producer. In all cases, the Arab states have a long term interest to diversify their sources of energy by integrating solar, wind and bio, which is more difficult to assess in terms of cost.

The road infrastructure deserves to be developed, taking into consideration the financial capability of States. A dense network would facilitate trade, until it reaches a certain level of flow that would require resorting to the rail.”

What is the role that social and educational institutions or those related to scientific research can play in achieving socio-economic development?

“Economic development must be supervised, controlled and monitored by scientific research and socio-economic institutions; the latter give meaning to development by organizing and assessing it over time, thus imparting to it coherence and relevance to the expected results.”

How can the younger generation contribute to building our future and in what manner can we support them?

“Young people are the future of all nations, as they bring energy, faith and conviction into the future of societies. An aging population becomes Malthusian and takes no risk for the country (as in Japan).

They should be integrated at all levels and in all institutions. A changeover has to take place to carry on the burden of quality. This means that young people must be educated, trained and determined to assume their active role in the quest for targets of progress and innovation.”

What prejudices affecting the Arab world in general do you wish to evoke and change?

“Prejudices and retrograde/embarrassing practices in the Arab world can be summed up as follows:

-1- Monopoly of power by incompetent social groups who are anxious to maintain their status and fail to deliver on their promise to bring prosperity to their people,
-2- The hold of an Islam which is devoid of its true values and is increasingly compared to power conquest strategies, and
-3- The resignation of the elite (they are leaving the country, paying allegiance or they are keeping silent)”

What are your aspirations for the future of the Arab world?

“Follow the example of Japan: modernity and respect for tradition (with a redefinition of secularism). Furthermore, we should at all costs substantially improve the governance of Arab countries so that the leaders may allow civil society and the role of women to bloom and evolve.”

Ridha Hamiani is the former Algerian Minister of SMEs, and presently the President of the forum of business leaders.

En Francais: 

Quelles mesures préconisez-vous pour assurer une stabilité économique dans la région, tenant compte de la crise financière mondiale ?

“La stabilité économique dans la région serait en meilleure posture si les politiques économiques convergeaient et à défaut de monnaie unique impensable à l’heure actuelle, il serait opportun que les politiques monétaires soient conduites en concertation selon une stratégie à moyen terme concertée.

De la même façon, les politiques commerciales devraient être plus ou moins alignées en ciblant des objectifs communs, notamment à l’égard des grandes zones mondiales au premier rang desquelles l’Europe.

L’essentiel serait, pour maintenir une croissance économique significative, de connecter les différents marchés maghrébins afin d’en faire un grand ensemble couvrant un nombre élevé de consommateurs (200 millions) disposant d’un pouvoir d’achat non dépendant totalement d’exportations (notamment d’énergie) mais d’une demande interne forte entraînée par une vigoureuse politique de relance portée par des dépenses publiques exceptionnelles dédiées entre autres aux infrastructures (cas de l’Algérie).”

Quel est le rôle que le secteur privé peut jouer dans le progrès économique et social?

“Le secteur privé est le véritable moteur d’un développement économique endogène offrant le maximum d’efficacité économique et de flexibilité s’adaptant presque naturellement à la conjoncture tant nationale qu’internationale. Son rôle social est moins évident. Ce n’est pas ce qui lui est demandé.c’est à l’état de mettre en œuvre les politiques sociales adaptées.”

Comment créer les opportunités pour améliorer le bien être des populations de votre région et pays?

“Le bien être des populations dépend pour beaucoup des politiques mises en œuvre par l’Etat- Elles consistent à engager des programmes spécifiques dans les domaines suivants :

• Politique sociale portée par des transferts sociaux visant à

-avoir une politique de la santé prenant en charge les frais   d’hospitalisation et de médicaments

-une politique de retraite

-une prise en charge des accidents

• Une politique de formation
• Une politique scolaire

Les opportunités sont à créer majoritairement par l’Etat en modulant sa politique budgétaire, monétaire et sociale. De la même façon, les chefs d’entreprises ont leur part dans la mise en œuvre de cette politique au travers de :

          -L’investissement local pour augmenter les revenus distribués

          -L’amélioration de l’environnement (au moins pour ne pas le polluer)

          -La formation

          -Contribuer au paiement des charges sociales”

Quelles sont les mesures que les Etats arabes pourraient prendre afin de construire une économie régionale solide et améliorer le développement social ?

“Les Etats Arabes pourrait s’inspirer de la construction européenne qui a débuté en 1957 par le traité de Rome jusqu’à la monnaie unique.

Concrètement, il faudrait agir pour :

• Créer progressivement un marché unique avec, au préalable, la mise en œuvre d’une vigoureuse politique de mise à niveau des entreprises et de l’environnement économique.
• Harmoniser les politiques monétaires, budgétaires, fiscales et sociales
• Développer l’idée d’un devenir commun partagé par le plus grand nombre
• Assurer totalement et rapidement la circulation des personnes et des biens
• Négocier avec le reste du monde à partir d’Institutions communes représentant de façon démocratique les différents états arabes.
• Offrir de cette manière un front uni solidaire et responsable”

Comment pourrait-on soutenir/améliorer davantage: l’auto-suffisance alimentaire, l’environnement durable, l’auto-suffisance énergétique et les infrastructures routières?

“L’auto-suffisance alimentaire dépend des investissements réalisés dans le secteur et des politiques foncières adoptées pour mettre en œuvre des programmes de production à partir de grands ensembles.

L’irrigation jouant un rôle central et capital, il est impératif d’aller au déssalement de l’eau de mer plus ou moins associé à l’exploitation des eaux fossiles de l’albienne.

Les instituts de recherche agricole doivent s’impliquer pour l’amélioration des espèces et des rendements.

L’environnement durable doit concerner tous les acteurs économiques impliqués par les processus de croissance. Au départ, il faudrait qu’il y ait à tous les niveaux, une prise de conscience de la gravité de cette question. Les Administrations doivent donner l’exemple et l’opération-test qui devrait les concerner en premier lieu pourrait être la dépollution de la méditerranée.

L’auto-suffisance énergétique est différente à apprécier selon que l’on est producteur de pétrole et de gaz ou non- Dans tous les cas, les états arabes ont intérêt sur la longue période à diversifier leurs sources d’énergie en intégrant le solaire, l’éolien et le bio plus difficile à évaluer en termes de coût.

Les infrastructures routières méritent d’être développées eu égard aux possibilités financières des Etats- Un réseau dense serait de nature à faciliter les échanges sauf, à un certain niveau de flux, le recours plus évident au rail.”

Quels rôles jouent les institutions sociales, éducatives, ou de recherches scientifiques dans le développement socio-économique?

“Le Développement économique doit être encadré, piloté et contrôlé par les institutions de recherches scientifiques et socio-économiques. Les dernières donnent du sens au développement en l’organisant, en l’évaluant dans le temps, en lui donnant de la cohérence et du lien avec les résultats attendus.”

Comment les Jeunes peuvent contribuer à améliorer notre avenir et de quelle manière pouvons-nous les soutenir?

“Les jeunes constituent l’avenir de tous les pays – Ils introduisent le dynamisme, la foi, et la croyance dans le futur des sociétés. Une population vieillissante devient malthusienne et ne prend aucun risque pour engager le pays (cas du japon).

Il faudrait les intégrer à tous les niveaux et dans toutes les institutions. Il faudrait qu’il y ait une relève de qualité. Cela revient à dire qu’il faut que les jeunes soient instruits, formés et déterminer à jouer leur rôle actif  dans la recherche d’objectifs de progrès et d’innovation.”

Quels préjugés d’ordre général relatifs au monde arabe souhaitez-vous évoquer et changer?

“Les préjugés et pratiques gênantes et rétrogrades pour le monde arabe peuvent être ramenés globalement à

·        La confiscation du pouvoir par des groupes sociaux incompétents soucieux de pérenniser leurs statuts sans apporter la prospérité attendue par les peuples.

·        L’emprise d’un islam éloigné de ses valeurs et qui s’apparente de plus en plus  à des stratégies de conquête du pouvoir.

·        La démission des élites (elles quittent le pays, elles font allégeance ou elles se taisent)”

Quels sont vos aspirations pour l’avenir du monde arabe?

“Suivre l’exemple du japon: modernité et respect des traditions (avec une redéfinition de la laïcité). Par ailleurs, il faudrait à tout prix améliorer fondamentalement la gouvernance des pays arabes afin qu’ils laissent notamment éclore et se développer la société civile et le rôle des femmes.”

CORPORATE VOICE > Barry Swayn, Managing Director, STORM Associates, Dubai, UAE

What are your aspirations for a promising future for the Arab region?

“The Arab world is passing through a critical phase, i.e. standstill of the peace process, the economic crisis etc. Although this region faces crises, the prospects and aspirations of the future are still promising. There are several challenges, but we all have the confidence of our capabilities to tackle them, believing that our problems are to be solved and our region is able to move forward on the right path. Our Arab region possesses a human wealth capable of creating a new and better future.”

What role can educational organizations and social organizations play in generating socio-economic progress in the region?

“Create social support. It is fundamental that education be unbiased and founded on intellectual rigor to raise standards and elevate what is the ‘cornerstone’ of society and the basis of a diversified social and economic progress.”

What role can the youth play in our future and how can we support them?

“Young people of today represent a powerful means for peace and development in our region. Besides their intellectual contribution and their ability to mobilize support, their unique perspectives and creativity can assist them to energize these processes. We can assist our youth by providing them with the right tools and resources that will enable them to realize their visions and aspirations for a more prosperous region. This approach entails the need to build the skills and capacity of our youth to actively collaborate with adults in the implementation of peace and development goals.”

CORPORATE VOICE > Ihab Ghattas, Assistant President, Middle East Region, Huawei Technologies, on the role of telecommunications in the region

“Over the last ten years, the telecommunications industry has grown and begun changing from the familiar patterns of the past. These changes have been driven by customer needs, technology changes and the emergence of new business models.  As the industry enters 2009, the global financial turmoil adds a new dimension to an already complicated picture and deepens the existing challenges. The ability of the operators and their partners to rapidly seize new opportunities, anticipate customer demands and be able to quickly modify strategies will determine the ongoing success of the telecommunications industry. 

Emerging markets will become a major factor in industry expansion, but decreasing ARPU (average revenue per user) will act as stimulation for creative solutions. Uncovering these opportunities, providing products, services and support to operators as they deal with the emerging trends and successfully managing the impacts will be the key to future success. 

Even in areas where economies are experiencing a slump, the telecom industry is still able to maintain and even accelerate its growth. Successful societies are going to require greater connectivity, placing the social responsibility of bridging the digital gap on the telecom industry.  During the last ten years, an information world has taken shape; the rise of broadband has brought about a massive social change to the point where people who use the web a lot often wonder how they ever managed without it. This trend will continue and over the next few years, the universal spread of high-speed, low-cost, anywhere connectivity will be the driving force for the telecom industry’s development. 

In this process, innovation and transformation is an everlasting topic. Working together, we will create a truly connected Arab world where people can have equal access to communications.”

Ihab Ghattas is the Assistant President of Huawei Technologies for the Middle East region, and a senior telecommunications professional with over 28 years experience in the telecoms industry. Prior to joining Huawei, Ihab spent most of his career with Etisalat, a leading operator in the MENA region. Ihab graduated from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt with a BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

CORPORATE VOICE > Nassim Kerdjoudj, Founder, NetSkills

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“The international financial crisis has revealed to the world the current limits of the market economy which is supported by the international financial system as designed and developed by the major world economic powers.

Indeed globalization, whose “merits” and “potential” have been touted, mainly by the West and highly industrialized countries, has always been based on the principle of bipolarity of the value chain between the countries that create value – holders of technology who maintain a firm grip on the reins of the global financial mechanics, and on the other hand, consumer countries which are capable to bear, even absorb, both debts and production of goods and services.

The bold emergence more than a decade ago of new emerging economic powers (China, India, and the Near East) has undoubtedly shifted the centers of gravity and economic power play.

Findings on globalization:

-1- The crisis of the Fordist production system in developed economies has led to a vertical disintegration of production;

-2- The international division of labor no longer responds to a logic of specialization by sector or product, but of division by segment or partial production process (chains of global values);

-3- Segments with a very high value added (immaterial production, creation of concepts and design …) remain confined to developed economies and some emerging countries;

-4- Globalization and advances in communication have created a global collective imaginary, leading to societal progress regardless of state action;

-5- The rise of China, India and other emerging countries reduces the development opportunities of other countries and increase the risk for them to be among the losers of globalization.

Participation of Arab countries in globalization:

It corresponds roughly to 3 attitudes:

1. The financial capacity to hold important positions in the areas of high economic value added;

2. Subcontracting with its downside, i.e., dependency vis-à-vis the ordering parties

3. The “primitive accumulation” of growth factors: infrastructure, training, savings and funding capabilities;

4. Growth through exports of raw materials to the detriment of impoverished local populations.

What are the options for Arab countries?

The pattern of specialization of developing countries rich in natural resources relies on competitive advantages in production and exports of goods with high levels of low-tech work that have a low value added (chemical, steel, metallurgy, textile … ). These goods however, benefit from a more or less important protection in international trade exchanges.

However, the current world trade dynamics show that the number of countries of the South which are able to compete in the industrial arena is very selective. Competition between countries with great gaps in their levels of industrialization favors the highly competitive ones (mainly the developed countries), which alone can manage to increase their market share, with the exception of some countries of the south.

Exports of manufactured goods from the south are concentrated in only 13 countries and two sub-continents: Argentina, Brazil, China, Hong Kong (China), India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Taiwan (China) and Thailand. These countries have seen their shares in world exports of manufactured goods increase from 9% in the 80’s to 22% in the mid 90’s.

Ten other developing countries – Bangladesh, Egypt, Malta, Mauritius, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and Turkey – have also experienced an increase in their exports of manufactured goods, but to a lesser extent than the countries listed above.

For some Arab countries, challenges at the industrial level are primarily national:  reduce imports, encourage investment (domestic and foreign) to give priority to local needs.

At the industrial level, the competitiveness of industrial products is low.  A regional comprehensive policy could opt for the medium-term objective of restoring internal competitiveness to limit imports.

In any event, it must include:

- An inventory of the competitive and non-competitive industrial sectors;

- Identifying the elements of competitiveness, where it exists;

- Specifying operational budgets of quantitative and qualitative objectives by sector across a determined scale of time;

- Means to achieve these objectives, arranged by sector and time spans;

- Translation of this policy on the ground, with the designation of supervisors and national and local partners to be tasked with its implementation.

How?

o        By creating a common financial instrument: A regional Arabic bank capable of operating across the entire region;

o        Providing an environment conducive to the emergence of competitive economic projects within countries;

o        Consolidating the spontaneous changes of society through public policy in terms of education, health, democratic rights;

o        Providing reliable public services, renovation and development of communications infrastructure (transport, telecommunications …);

o        Promoting savings for economic purposes.

o        Locally produce more goods and quality services benefiting the people and businesses;

o        Bring national standards (in terms of competition, production …) closer to international standards;

o        Set goals: What increase in production? In what areas? For what purpose?

o        Use the experience and expertise of other countries; deal with international development programs;

o        Encourage the development of license or franchise, rather than subcontracting.”

 

Nassim Kerdjoudj was born in september 26th 1971 in Algiers. After an A level in Mathematical, he graduated with a Comptuer Engineering Mastery from Paris 7 Unversity and Management of Quality at French Art et métiers High School. He started his carreer as a Consultant in Decan Group, a French IT services Company and joined in 1998 the Consulting Division of Lotus Development (an IBM Software Susidiary) before taking the Job of Professional Services Manager in IBM France. In 2003, he was back to Algeria as a Business Development Manager for Microsoft Corp. In 2004, he decided to launch his Start-up, Net-Skills, to provide IT consulting services, Mobility solutions and Value Added Services on the Algerian strong potential market. Nassim Kerdjoudj is the younger member on the Executive Council of the Forum des Chefs d’Entreprises (the main employers association in Algeria) and the President of the CARE Club, the first economic Think Tank in Algeria. He was also a former President of the French Youth Section of the Automotive Engineers Association.            

En Francais: 

“La crise financière internationale a permis de constater au yeux du monde les limites actuelles de l’économie de marché adossée au système financier international tel que ce dernier a été conçu et développé par les grandes puissances économiques mondiales.

En effet, la mondialisation dont on a vanté les mérites et le potentiel, principalement du coté de l’occident et des pays fortement industrialisée a toujours été basée sur le principe d’une bipolarité de la chaine de valeur entre les pays créateur de valeur, détenteurs de technologie et tenant fermement les rennes de la mécanique financière mondiale, et d’autre part les pays consommateurs capable de supporter, voire d’absorber, à la fois les dettes et la production de bien et de services.

L’émergence depuis plus d’une décennie de manière tranchée de nouvelles puissances économiques émergentes (Chine, Inde, Pays du Proche Orient) a indéniablement fait varier les centres de gravité et les rapports de force économique.

Constats sur la mondialisation:

• La crise du système fordiste dans les économies développées a conduit à une désintégration verticale de la production

• La division internationale du travail ne répond plus à une logique de spécialisation par secteur ou produit, mais de division par segment ou processus partiel de production (chaines de valeurs mondiales).     

• Les segments à très forte valeur ajoutée (production immatérielle, création de concepts et design…) restent cantonnés dans les économies développées et dans quelques pays émergents

• La mondialisation et les progrès de la communication ont créé un imaginaire collectif mondial conduisant à des avancées sociétales indépendamment de l’action des états.

• L’essor de la Chine, de l’Inde et d’autres pays émergents réduisent les opportunités de développement des autres pays et renforcent le risque pour ceux-là de se situer parmi les perdants de la mondialisation.

La participation des pays Arabes à la mondialisation

Elle correspond schématiquement à 3 attitudes :

1.      La capacité financière permettant de prendre des positions importantes dans les domaines économique à forte valeur ajoutée

2.      La sous-traitance avec son revers, la dépendance vis-à-vis des donneurs d’ordres

3.      l’ « accumulation primitive » des facteurs de croissance : infrastructures, formation, épargne et capacités de financement

4.      La croissance par les exportations de matières premières au détriment de la paupérisation des populations locales,

Quelles options pour Les pays arables ?

Le schéma de spécialisation des pays en développement riches en ressources naturelles s’appuie sur des avantages compétitifs dans la production et les exportations de marchandises à forte teneur en travail de basse technicité, avec une valeur ajoutée faible (chimie, sidérurgie, métallurgie, textile…). Ces marchandises bénéficient néanmoins d’une protection plus ou moins importante dans les échanges internationaux.

Pour autant, le commerce mondial actuel démontre que l’entrée en compétition de pays du sud dans le champ industriel est très sélective. La concurrence entre des pays aux niveaux d’industrialisation très différents favorise les pays fortement compétitifs (essentiellement les pays développés), seuls capables d’augmenter leurs parts de marchés, à l’exception de quelques pays du sud.

Les exportations de biens manufacturés émanant du sud sont concentrées dans seulement 13 pays et deux sous-continents : l’Argentine, le Brésil, la Chine, Hong-kong (Chine), l’Inde, l’Indonésie, la République de Corée, la Malaisie, le Mexique, les Philippines, Taiwan (Chine) et la Thaïlande. Ces pays ont vu leurs parts, dans les exportations mondiales de biens manufacturés, passer de 9% dans les années 80 à 22% vers la moitié des années 90.

Dix autres pays en développement – le Bangladesh, l’Egypte, Malte, l’île Maurice, le Maroc, le Pakistan, l’Afrique du Sud, le Sri Lanka, la Tunisie et la Turquie – ont également connu une augmentation de leurs exportations de biens manufacturés, mais dans une moindre mesure que les pays cités plus haut.

Pour certains pays arables, les enjeux au plan industriel sont d’abord nationaux : réduire les importations, favoriser l’investissement (national et étranger) pour répondre en priorité aux besoins locaux.

Au plan industriel, la compétitivité des produits industriels est faible. Une politique régiobale globale pourrait se donner comme objectif à moyen terme de restaurer une compétitivité intérieure pour limiter les importations.

En tout état de cause, elle doit comporter

-          un état des lieux des secteurs industriels compétitifs et non compétitifs,

-          une identification des éléments de cette compétitivité, lorsqu’elle existe,

-          la déclinaison d’objectifs quantitatifs et qualitatifs par secteur dans une échelle de temps déterminée,

-          des moyens d’atteindre ces objectifs, ordonnancés par secteur et dans le temps,

-          la traduction spatiale de cette politique, avec la désignation des pilotes et partenaires nationaux et locaux chargés les mettre en œuvre.

Comment ?

- En se dotant d’un instrument financier commun  : Une banque régionale Arabe capable d’opérer sur tout la région.

- Offrir un environnement favorable à l’émergence de projets économiques compétitifs à l’intérieur des pays

- Conforter les évolutions spontanées de la société par une politique publique aux plans de l’éducation, de la santé, des droits démocratiques

- Fiabiliser les services publics, rénover et développer les infrastructures de communication (transports, télécoms…)

- Favoriser l’épargne à visée économique Produire sur place davantage de biens et services de qualité à la population comme aux entreprises

- Rapprocher les normes nationales (au plan de la concurrence, de la production…) des normes internationales

- Se fixer des objectifs : quelle augmentation de la production nationale ? dans quels domaines ? à quel horizon ?

- Faire usage de l’expérience et expertise des autres pays, se saisir des programmes internationaux de développement

- Favoriser le développement de licence ou franchise plutôt que la sous-traitance”

CULTURE > Kiki Bokassa, Writer-Artist-Social Activist

 

“Ambition or duty, the vulnerability of life or the power of destiny provide some men the chance to lead others. This Higher Mission do not need to exercise only authority, yet so respected and astute, nor the use of constraint even the most efficient. It is a matter to know how to convince and to approach, to compose with persons, things and time. In the social order there is no power without Negotiation and Dialogue, inside or outside of any family, group and society.

 This Century put Humanity in front of some very complicated if not destructive events, dramatic events. In spite of the progress of science and technology, the expansion and pace of mass communication, wealth or diminution the world especially our Arab World encloses several factors of turbulences, tensions and Violence. The Threat of Disorder and Ruptures made urgent and more than any time the necessity to exercise the practice of Negotiation and the use of all kind of peaceful means to resolve and to end any misunderstanding or crisis.

The Future of our Arab World being the cradle of religions and civilizations must be in a profound Peaceful Education and through the Culture of Dialogue.  This Culture should be applied on all aspects of our social and political life, even more in our private life. It is the privileged task of the Arab Civil Society especially considering the failure of the Arab Establishment to sustain and to accomplish its obligations toward its Society.

 This Mission is not only a privilege but more a responsibility that needs to be apprehended by an active, motivated and highly educated Civil Society, a wide and specialized number of nongovernmental organizations collaborating all together not only to simulate but to implement in our Arab Political and Social Life the knowhow of dialogue.

 In our Arab World some characteristics should be perceived:

  * Enormous budgets are still dedicated for the military in almost all the Arab Regimes.

    * The Repression bodies are going stronger and stronger and managing all aspects of our life.

     * After the 70’s with the Oil Revolution, what characterized the Arab Political System was the slogan: “Get Richer”, a slogan that pilots’ considerable social and economical changes and Money take it over the Human, over the Politics.

     * At the latest 90’s the Successors leading our world wanted themselves as Renovators, they are welcome if they could capture the time and perceive the society needs. The reformatory discourse of those Leaders is not a Promise of Democratization and Modernization but it’s more about securing their elderly Systems using Modern means. They should know one major thing: it is all about the   “human being” the Citizen in the Arab World.

It is a lack of communication and understanding between the system and the citizen, between citizens themselves, an urgent and crucial need that requires an enlightening elaboration that should took place as a part of our Arab Educational System and in our daily life, it is all about how to Cultivates Value of Peace, of Justice, of Democracy, of Liberty and of Dialogue.

This task should be prevailed by developing in Young Arab People, as an unending Mission, the spirit and the custom of resolving conflicts through Peaceful and Realistic Approaches based on ethical values.              

The Future of the Arab World must be handled by our Arab Youth; Youth who should know how to bring into play a very wealthy Civilization with Modernization, Human with Knowledge and Science.

Youth who know how to use history to built a bright future, and who are ready to take over this Mission for generations to come in order to create a new image of a people who Love Life and know how to Live, a new image that passes over all global misconceptions about the Arab World as a World of Violence and Terrorism and that shows the Reality in its Intense Human Dimension, as a non Violent, Comprehensive and a World of Understanding and Dialogue.”

 

Marie-Ange J.B. Bokassa (alias Kiki) is an autodidact artist of Lebanese and Central-African backgrounds. Kiki has over the past years participated in several exhibitions in Lebanon and overseas. Her paintings are displayed in private collections from the Arabian Gulf to the American Midwest, through metropolis such as New York. She is also a writer and an active member in society, directly involved in a wide-range of humanitarian causes to which she devotes much of her time.  In 2005 she started engaging in several humanitarian efforts, including the creation of non lucrative children’s books and activities such as “Let me tell you a story” publication and “Paint for Peace” workshop. She also holds reading sessions under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture, and works as an art educator periodically, by training children and volunteers in public schools and public spaces all over the country. Visit these websites for more on Kiki’s work: www.kikibokassaart.com, www.kikibokassa.com, www.letmetellyouastory.com  

CULTURE > Michel Elefteriades, The Beirut Music Hall

 

(Scroll down to read this post in French)

 “The Arab world is one of the world’s regions that  suffer the most from all sorts of problems. There are  two ways of approaching those; either though  repairing their effects or through attacking their  sources. And I am a fervent enemy of  TINA (Margaret Thatcher’s There Is No  Alternative). I believe human spirit should dare to  opt for innovation and to think out of the box.

 This is the reason why we need to find solutions for the two main problems that our Arab world is today facing; on one hand, the profound disparities between the rich and the poor and the feeling of powerlessness in front of Israel’s injustice, on the other. A global revolution that would redraft the ruling systems in the Arab world seems to me as the only chance for this region to develop as is the case in other societies.

This might seem like an unreachable Utopia, but as Oscar Wilde once said “progress only lies in the realization of utopias”. I do know this can also be painful, but giving birth always comes with labor. The ruling castes need to understand that their survival depends on how many concessions they are bound to give to their citizens, they need to realize they no longer can satisfy those with the few crumbs of the opulence and feasts they have been taking pleasure in for decades. Governments can no longer idly watch Israel’s policies in the region nor can they collaborate with it in worse cases.

Times we now live in have made from ethics an obsolete principle, especially when it comes to economy. I pledge for the return of economy in the meadow of Human Sciences. And I dare to speak of the ethics of resistance for resistance is the duty of every free spirit under occupation. Our duty is, before any other thing, to fight both forms of occupation that today alienate our Arab world; first, misery for it generates ignorance, violence and fanaticism and second Zionism for it is today destroying the image of Arab people and their self esteem, as well as their human and economic cultures and heritages.”

Michel Elefteriades is a music producer, talent manager and owner of Beirut’s Music Hall

En Francais:

“Le monde Arabe est une des régions du globe qui affronte le plus grand nombre de problèmes. Il existe deux manières d’approcher ces problèmes. La première consiste à colmater leurs effets, et la seconde à les résoudre à la source. Je suis un farouche ennemi de TINA (there is no alternative), la politique que prêchait Madame Thatcher. L’esprit humain doit oser l’innovation. Il doit oser sortir des sentiers battus.

C’est la raison pour laquelle il nous faut combattre deux grands problèmes auxquels fait face aujourd’hui le monde Arabe. D’une part le profond fossé qui sépare les riches des pauvres, et d’autre part le sentiment d’impuissance face à l’injustice Israélienne. Une révolution qui permettrait un remaniement profond des systèmes en place dans le monde Arabe est le seul et unique moyen de voir un jour prochain ce monde évoluer à l’instar des autres sociétés développées.

Ceci pourrait relever de l’utopie mais comme le disait Oscar Wilde : « Le progrès n’est-il pas que la réalisation des Utopies? ». Je sais bien que ceci pourrait être bien douloureux mais l’on n’enfante que dans la douleur. Les castes régnantes doivent comprendre que leur survie est au prix de concessions qu’elles doivent à leurs citoyens et qu’elles ne peuvent plus les contenter des restes du festin et des miettes de l’opulence dont elles jouissent depuis des décennies. Les gouvernements ne peuvent plus rester, au mieux mains croisées face à la politique Israélienne, et au pire collaborer avec cette dernière.

L’air du temps veut qu’il soit obsolète de parler d’éthique, surtout quand il s’agit d’économie. Je plaide pour un retour de l’économie dans le giron des sciences humaines. Et j’ose parler de l’éthique de la résistance qui est le devoir de tout homme libre face à l’occupation. Notre devoir, avant toute autre chose, est de combattre les deux occupations qui sévissent dans notre monde Arabe : la misère qui engendre ignorance, violence et fanatisme et le sionisme qui lui œuvre à la destruction de l’image des peuples Arabes, de leur confiance en soi et de leurs cultures et richesses économiques et humaines.”

 

Michel Elefteriades a.k.a. H.I.H. Michel I of Nowheristan was Born in 1970 in Beirut, Lebanon, from Byzantine Greek origins, and is the great grandnephew of Saint Chrysostomos Kalafates, Metropolitan of Smyrna, who was assassinated in 1922. He has lived in different countries and speaks more than sixlanguages. He was a political activist since the age of 15 in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, and aleader from 1991 to 1994 of the M.U.R. (United Movements of Resistance) a clandestine liberationarmed group, during which he escaped two assassination attempts. He served political exile in Franceand Cuba from 1994 till 1997. Michel is a painter and holder of a diploma in fine arts, and an author of poems and of two novels (one of which was banned in the Arab world) and has also written and composed more than 120 songs. As a music producer and arranger, his creations count among the Arab world’s most successful musical experiments of the last ten years including Hanine Y Son Cubano; Wadih El Safi in duo with Jose Fernandez; Demis Roussos & the Oriental Roots Orchestra; and Tony Hanna & the Yugoslavian Gipsy Brass Band. He has participated as a key-speaker in number of international seminars and symposiums  and founded the “Mediterraneo Byblos International Festival” in 1999 which he directed till 2003. He is the founder and owner of Beirut’s “Music Hall”, an 800-seat theatre venue specialized in cultural showbiz. At the age of 33, he pulled the bases of a new nation he name Nowheristan. The ceremony of proclamation of the nation of Nowheristan received the United Nations’ support by the presence of UN Secretary General’s personal representative, Mr. Geir Pederson, and the Lebanese Minister of Culture Tarek Mitri. Numerous Arab and international scholars and intellectuals have joined the concept of Nowheristan and thousands of candidates from around the world have already requested applications for citizenship. H.I.H. is dedicating his time, talent and wealth to promote the great Empire as an alternative solution for the political, ideological and economic problems of today’s world.

 

DIALOGUE EXCLUSIVE > Amine Ghellal

(Scroll down to read this post in French)

What kind of measures do you recommend to ensure the economic stability of the region, in the light of the ongoing global economic crisis?

“It is commonplace to affirm that the world crisis is potentially more destabilizing for the countries of the region. Given that the likely duration of this crisis is not predictable, the affected countries should take a number of measures, relating both to the field of renunciation* and to that of action taking. 

* Renunciation measures would notably include the following:

-     give up all economic policies of prestige, namely by cutting the State lifestyle cost;

-     eradicate corruption, which is sometimes rampant and directs the economy toward sham projects and practices that are useless or absurd, yet generate commissions;

-     put an end to the policy of economic disinterest towards the people, as the State is typically engrossed by activities of prestige (foreign affairs, grand declarations, magnificent conferences), that generate few concrete initiatives at the macro and micro economic level. Such an attitude may very well fit the catch phrase coined by the French publicist Berthélémy, according to which “the good things that the State is expected to do, it does badly, yet the bad things it is doing, it succeeds in doing well”.  

* Actions to be taken may seem conventional, but they need to be conducted in a thorough and honest manner in order for them to have a cumulative effect:

- implement a prudent monetary policy with the aim of curbing inflation;

- privatize the inert sectors of the economy, that is, the non-profitable public enterprises, which are artificially maintained due to reasons of prestige and dogma. Instead of requiring the purchaser to disburse any amounts of money, it would be more appropriate to request him that payment would be in “outcomes” of productivity, job creation, and provision of added value benefits for the benefit of the country. The privatization process must be reconsidered if such outcomes are not achieved;                 

- stimulate both foreign and domestic investment. One of the criteria for the provision of investment facilities should be the extent to which each investment would contribute to enhancing the living standard of the population;

- develop rural infrastructure to prevent rural depopulation and creations of disorderly mega towns that are partly  inactive or undermined by informal trade;

- promote the role of women in the economy, as it has been proven that they are capable of emulating men in this field;

- recruit modern teachers, who are versed in other topics than religion and are equipped to prepare youth face global competition;

- teach foreign languages and consider this subject to be a major factor in assessing the economic skills of the young person and, later on, of the adult;

These measures require that political leaders understand that they can secure a place in history not by the fear that they inspire, bur rather by the irreversible benefits that they would offer to their populations.”

What role can the private sector play in ensuring economic and social progress?

“It is commonplace to observe that the private sector features creativity, imagination, risk taking, anti-dogmatism and free enterprise. It is equally noteworthy that these very features apply to political democracy;

Therefore, whenever political democracy is lacking, it may seem interesting, and in fact I believe it to be essential, that it is supplanted by the economic democracy which is embedded in the private sector. 

This is not a sterile game: history has indeed shown that democracy in short has always been preceded by an economic revolution which has always been the prerogative of the private sector.

Inversely, history has revealed that whenever an economic dictatorship is established, it brings in its wake a political dictatorship, as the failure of directed economy brings about political dictatorship. As such, the welfare State’s failure leads to the establishment of a sheer police and regulatory State.

The primacy of the private sector is thus an essential and fundamental element. The private sector must cease to be an alibi; it must become a watchword.”

How can one create opportunities to improve the welfare of populations in your region and in your country?

“Concerning my region, i.e. the Maghreb, we must recognize that each of the member states favours economic autarky, political confinement and daily self-satisfaction – iterative.

In such context, peoples are:

- dwarfed at the domestic level, whether economically or politically;

- isolated, not to say, divided up, regionally;

- obliterated, or even crushed, internationally.

The political class, as meant by Gaetano Mosca, thus manages to create an inner space, regionally and internationally, where it can freely indulge in self-praise.

It goes without saying that the welfare of population cannot evolve within such a context, as they are totally ignored and held hostages, being subjected in practice to a “colonial code” of a new nature.

The opportunities for improving their welfare will emerge only after having acknowledged, as the existentialists would put it, that the people – provided they are educated – must be allowed to evolve freely, and by so doing evolve into nothing else other than what they intend to.”

What  are the measures that Arab states may adopt to enable them build up a strong regional economy and achieve an improved social development?

“Provide their peoples in a committed manner with a genuinely solid international education, so much so as these peoples cease sinking into the culture of death, with prayer as a sole purpose, women as the sole enemy, snippets of poorly understood Koran as a unique reference.  

- Foster subtlety and pragmatism in their perception of international politics;

- Establish democracy;

- Enact the principle of equality of rights and duties. Equality is indeed a need which is shared by all peoples, whereas freedom, as practised by the dominant great ones who can do whatever they like, is required by a chosen few.

Indeed, based on such terms, and only on these terms, would Arab States be able to undertake the following:

- open their borders to investment by other Arab countries;

- set in place inter-dependent projects;

- carry out large scale projects meant to open up the region, such as airlines, expressways, universities where equivalent diplomas would be delivered, yet in accordance with strict criteria;

- enact a common finance policy, at the level of currency exchange rates control and banking regulations;

- set in place -an arduous task indeed – a common policy on women, empowering Arab women, who are amongst the most intelligent of the planet, to gain a genuine economic status, stop their being marginalized, put an end to their desperate escape by increasingly entering into marriages with Europeans for the sole purpose of fleeing their countries. It is true, of course, that  some countries, in comparison with others, are boasting a vanguard policy or even a revolutionary one in this regard. Yet reality on the ground demonstrates that such allegations may not be totally true: the “legal country,” in this field as in many others, may not coincide with the “actual country”: polygamy is still prevailing in inland regions through religious matrimonies; no woman is allowed to inherit in the same way as men do; rural women are still beaten, exploited, subjected to forced wedding….

These observations demonstrate how difficult it is to adopt a modern policy in this field, and also how much these are needed.”

How can we secure/augment food sufficiency, sustainable environment, energy self-sufficiency, road infrastructure?

“Food self-sufficiency depends on a twofold agricultural and industrial aspect.

* The agricultural output must be further optimized through training efforts (technical and engineering diplomas recognized by the State), equipping farmers with modern and sufficient production means free of charge, enhancing the status of agricultural professions (youth training, State assistance, fiscal incentives), encouraging farmers to keep away from the city (appropriate lodging, leisure amenities in hamlets and villages), providing subsidies in favour of farm products, selectivity in production (ex: producing cereal crops rather than strawberries).

* The industrial aspect derives from the commonly known fact that, nowadays, farming products can be industrially processed, which provides farmers with additional job opportunities and further motivates them to increase their production.   The opportunities that can be generated by this are inexhaustible.  Think, for instance, of the housewife who will refrain from purchasing onion in bulk and prefer, for the sake of convenience and cleanliness, to buy it mashed and sold in small bottles. Other products may well offer similar opportunities.

Today, a number of Arab countries are importing processed food commodities which could be produced by them, thus enabling them to significantly save foreign currency.”

What is the role that social and educational institutions or those related to scientific research can play in achieving socio-economic development?

“They contribute to the awakening of intelligence, and therefore, to the establishment of creativity and, subsequently, to development. They ought to be able to freely foster the sense of criticism with the view of pointing out to the socio-economic weaknesses and incongruencies. A weakness which is identified and extensively analysed is a weakness that can be resolved.”  

How can the younger generation contribute to building our future and in what manner can we support them?

“The populations of all Arab countries are predominantly young. The sole wish of young people today is to escape – escape desperately, for their elders have snared them, ignored, and stamped them in solitude and contempt. A young Arab person aged 25 is very far from enjoying the material means, cultural environment, social affluence and development perspectives that are offered to an 8-year old European child. At the same age of 25, a European is likely to become a university professor, whereas a young Arab will be a desperate jobless, uneducated person, without future, incapable of settling down and starting a family, a candidate to suicide.

This is extremely serious and constitutes one of the major misfortunes of Arab countries.

Supporting Arab young people require a huge multi-dimensional action: establishing universities of excellence, ensuring that the doors for international exchanges are widely open to them, promoting culture in all its forms, cinema, books, travels, music, theatre, giving them a sense of responsibility through enterprise promotion, stimulating freedom of expression, encouraging economic creativity.  

Efforts need to be made to ensure that the young may live. A young Arab once said “we are already dead; it doesn’t matter if we were to lose our life in a boat while trying to escape. We have at least a chance to survive our death”.

In order to let the young improve our future, we must first strive to ensure that they lead a normal life – an enhancive and “self-fulfilling” one in their own countries.”

What prejudices affecting the Arab world in general do you wish to evoke and change?

“The majority of judgements concerning the Arabs are unfortunately justified: They are incapable of agreeing among each other; they make their decisions based on “emotion”; they don’t work enough; their peoples are left on their own; they are undermined by corrupt practices.

Nevertheless, an extremely unfair prejudice does prevail. It reflects a deep ignorance and profound conceit on the part of those who are harbouring them: It is the prejudice on Arab intelligence. The latter is undeniable and is the most shared quality among the Arab peoples. They are virtually capable of causing the vertigo to any of their global counterparts. Yet success is often derived from the encounter between intelligence and circumstances. Such circumstances are evading in the Arabs.

Some presidents of European nations are claiming today that they own the intelligence while a given Arab people have only the labour. The same tune proclaims that Westerners are endowed with ideas while the Arabs have nothing but oil.

The Arabs have never reacted to such insults. I don’t mean that we have to react violently, as accustomed, but to really allow free expression to Arab intelligences, which is the most appropriate way to counterattack those prejudices.”

What are your aspirations for the Arab world future?

“Intelligence. Moderation. Work and efficiency. A comprehensive and fully-fledged status for the young and women.”

Amine Ghellal is member of the International Who’s Who Historical Society; Member of the International Who’s Who of Project Finance; Author: “Le Groupe Progrès et Démocratie Moderne,” 1967; “Recherches sur l’Effet Impératif des Actes Administratifs Unilatéraux,” 1973; “Les Contrats de Gaz et la Clause Rebus Sic Stantibus,” 1981; “Quelques Aspects du Droit Algérien du Travail, Présentation Synoptique,” 2004; ICLG Gas Regulation 2007 – Algeria; ICLG Merger Control 2007 – Algeria. Professor: University of Law, Montpellier, France, 1965-1973; University of Algiers, 1974-1981; Institute of Political Studies, Institut d’Etudes Politiques-IEP of Algiers, 1974-1976; National School of Administration, Ecole Nationale d’Administration-ENA of Algiers, 1982-1992. Counsel to the Chief Executive Officer of Sonatrach, National Oil Company and to the Algerian Minister of Energy, 1973-1981. Legal Expert, OPEC and OAPEC, 1979-1981. Head of the National Algerian Delegation for the Law of the Sea, United Nations, New York, 1979-1981. International Arbitrator, ICC & Ad Hoc. Advocate at the Supreme Court of Algeria; Advocate at the State Council. Local Partner, Correspondent of the World Bank.

En Francais:

Quelles mesures préconisez-vous pour assurer une stabilité économique dans la région, tenant compte de la crise financière mondiale ?

Il est banal d’affirmer que la crise mondiale recèle un potentiel de déstabilisation plus grand pour les pays de la région. La durée probable de cette crise n’étant pas prévisible, les pays concernés devraient prendre un  certain nombre de mesures, à la fois dans le, domaine de la renonciation et dans celui de l’action.

* Les mesures de renonciation consisteraient notamment à :

-          mettre fin à toute politique économique de prestige, notamment par la réduction du train de vie de l’Etat,

-          mettre fin à la corruption, qui est parfois extrêmement étendue et qui oriente l’économie vers de projets et des comportements factices, voire inutiles ou absurdes mais générateurs de commissions

-          mettre fin à la politique de désintérêt économique vis-à-vis des populations, l’Etat s’occupant généralement des activités de prestige (affaires étrangères, grandes déclarations, congrès fastueux), mais n’initiant que peu d’activités concrètes aux plans macro et micro économiques. A cette attitude pourrait s’appliquer la formule du publiciste français Berthélémy, selon laquelle « le bien que fait l’Etat, il le fait mal, mais le mal qu’il fait, il le fait bien ».

* Les actions seraient classiques mais devraient être menées complètement et honnêtement afin  que leur effet cumulatif soit constatable :

-          procéder à une gestion monétaire prudente tendant à minimiser l’inflation,

-          privatiser les corps morts de l’économie, c’est-à-dire les entreprises publiques non rentables, qui sont artificiellement maintenues pour des raisons de prestige et de dogme. Au lieu d’exiger de l’acquéreur qu’il paie des sommes d’argent, il conviendrait de lui demander de payer en « résultats » dans les domaines de la productivité, de la création d’emplois et de la création de plus value pour le pays. La privatisation devrait être réversible si ces résultats ne sont pas atteints,

-          stimuler l’investissement étranger mais aussi national. L’un des critères d’aide à l’investissement devrait être le degré de relèvement du niveau de vie des populations procuré par chaque investissement,

-          développer l’infrastructure rurale pour empêcher l’exil vers les villes et la création de mégapoles désordonnées, en partie inactives ou minées par l’ »économie informelle,

-          promouvoir le rôle de la femme dans l’économie, tant il est avéré qu’elle est capable de dépasser l’homme dans ce domaine,

-          recruter des enseignants modernes, qui connaissent autre chose que la religion et préparent la jeunesse à la compétition mondiale,

-          enseigner les langues étrangères et faire de cette discipline un élément très important dans l’appréciation des performances économiques du jeune et, plus tard, de l’homme.  

Ces mesures nécessitent que les dirigeants comprennent qu’ils peuvent laisser leur nom dans l’histoire non par la crainte qu’ils inspirent mais par les bienfaits irréversibles qu’ils pourraient apporter à leurs populations.

Quel est le rôle que le secteur privé peut jouer dans le progrès économique et social ?

Il est banal de constater  que le secteur privé se caractérise par la créativité, l’imagination, la prise de risque, l’anti-dogmatisme, la liberté d’entreprise. Il est parallèlement remarquable de constater que ces mêmes éléments caractérisent la démocratie politique.

Chaque fois par conséquent que la démocratie politique est absente, il peut paraître intéressant, et en fait il est primordial à notre sens, de la remplacer par la démocratie économique inhérente au secteur privé.

Il ne s’agit pas là d’un jeu stérile : l’histoire démontre en effet que la démocratie tout court a toujours été précédée par une révolution économique qui a toujours été l’apanage du secteur privé.

L’histoire démontre à l’inverse que chaque fois qu’une dictature économique a été instituée, il s’en est suivi une dictature politique, l’échec de l’économie dirigée entraînant celui de la politique dictatoriale. L’Etat providence, a ainsi échoué au profit de l’Etat simple gendarme, simple régulateur..

La primauté du secteur privé est donc essentielle et fondamentale. Le secteur privé doit cesser d’être un alibi ; il doit devenir un mot de combat.

Comment créer les opportunités pour améliorer le bien être des populations de votre région et pays ?

S’agissant de ma région, le Maghreb, force est de constater que chacun des pays composants privilégie l’autarcie économique, l’enfermement politique et l’autosatisfaction quotidienne, itérative.

Dans un tel cadre, les peuples sont :

-minorisés au plan interne, tant économiquement que politiquement,

-isolés, voire cloisonnés,  au plan régional,

-effacés, voire écrasés, au plan international.

La classe politique, au sens de Gaetano Mosca, aménage ainsi un champ interne, régional, et international où tout est calme et où elle peut librement chanter ses louanges.

Il va de soi que le bien être des populations ne peut éclore dans un tel cadre, puisqu’elles sont totalement ignorées, otages, subissant en pratique un « code de l’indigénat » d’un  genre nouveau.

Les opportunités pour améliorer leur bien être ressortent dés lors du constat qui vient d’être fait : pour paraphraser les existentialistes, il faut laisser le peuple, un peuple cependant éduqué,  « faire, et en faisant se faire et n’être rien que ce qu’il se fait ».

Quelles sont les mesures que les Etats arabes pourraient prendre afin de construire une économie régionale solide et améliorer le développement social ?

- Donner à leurs peuples de manière engagée, une éducation internationale réelle, solide et telle que ces peuples arrêtent de sombrer dans la culture de la mort, avec la prière pour seul objectif, la femme pour seul ennemi, des bribes mal comprises du Coran pour seuls références,

- Développer la nuance et le pragmatisme dans leur perception de la politique internationale,

- Instaurer la démocratie,

- Instaurer l’égalité des droits et des obligations. L’égalité est en effet le besoin de tous alors que la liberté, celle actuelle des grands dominants qui peuvent tout faire, est le besoin de quelques uns.

Sur ces bases, mais sur ces bases seulement, les Etats arabes pourraient en effet :

- ouvrir leurs frontières à l’investissement par les autres pays arabes

- mettre en place des projets complémentaires,

-entreprendre des projets désenclavants de grande envergure, telles que lignes aériennes, autoroutes, universités où un arabe commun serait parlé et où des diplômes  d’égale valeur seraient délivrés, mais  avec sévérité,

- mettre en place une politique financière commune, au niveau du contrôle des changes et du droit bancaire

- mettre en place, tâche ô¨combien difficile, une politique commune de la femme, permettant aux femmes arabes, qui sont parmi les plus intelligentes de la planète, d’avoir une place réelle dans l’économie, de sortir de la minorité, d’arrêter leur fuite éperdue dans des mariages de plus en plus fréquents avec des européens à seule fin de fuir leurs pays. Il est vrai, certes, que tel  ou tel pays peut, par rapport aux autres, se targuer d’une politique avant-gardiste, voire « révolutionnaire » dans ce domaine. La réalité démontre que ces allégations sont cependant à nuancer : le « pays  légal », dans ce domaine comme dans d’autres,  ne coïncide pas avec le « pays réel » : la polygamie existe toujours, en effet, dans les contrées reculées à travers le mariage religieux, aucune femme ne peut hériter de la même façon qu’un homme, la femme paysanne reste battue, exploitée, mariée de force…

Ces constatations démontrent combien une politique moderne dans ce domaine est difficile, combien aussi elle est nécessaire.

Comment pourrait-on soutenir/améliorer davantage: L’auto-suffisance alimentaire, l’environnement durable , l’auto-suffisance énergétique, les infrastructures routières?

L’autosuffisance alimentaire relève d’un double volet agricole et industriel.

* La production agricole doit être optimisée par une action de formation (diplômes, BTS, ingéniorat reconnus par l’Etat), par la mise à la disposition des producteurs d’équipements modernes et suffisants à titre gratuit, par la valorisation des métiers de l’agriculture (formation des jeunes, aides de l’Etat, avantages fiscaux) par la fixation des agriculteurs en dehors des villes (habitat, centres de loisirs dans les hameaux et villages), par un subventionnement des produits de l’agriculture, par une sélectivité dans la production (e.g. produire des céréales plutôt que des fraises).

* Le volet industriel tient au fait, devenu banal, que les produits de l’agriculture, aujourd’hui peuvent être transformés industriellement, ce qui donne un débouché supplémentaire aux agriculteurs et les encourage à produire. Il y a là des débouchés insoupçonnables dans la mesure, par exemple, où la même ménagère qui s’abstiendra d’acheter de l’oignon en vrac, l’achètera volontiers, pour plus de commodité et de propreté, sous une forme pulvérisée et vendu en petites bouteilles.  Il y a là une réflexion à mener produit par produit.

Aujourd’hui, un certain nombre de pays arabes importent des produits agro-alimentaires qu’ils pourraient fabriquer, d’où une économie substantielle de devises.

Quels rôles jouent les institutions sociales, éducatives, ou de recherches scientifiques dans le développement socio-économique?

Elles participent toutes à l’éveil de l’intelligence, donc à la l’instauration de la créativité et, partant, au développement. Elles devraient pouvoir librement développer le sens critique afin de pointer les faiblesses et les inconséquences socio-économiques. Une faiblesse identifiée, largement étalée, est une faiblesse résolue.

Comment les Jeunes peuvent contribuer à améliorer notre avenir et de quelle manière pouvons-nous les soutenir ?

Tous les pays arabes sont jeunes, sont peuplés de jeunes. Le seul désir de ces jeunes est aujourd’hui de fuir, de fuir désespérément, car leurs aînés les ont piégés, ignorés, écrasés dans la solitude et le mépris. Un jeune arabe de 25 ans est très loin d’avoir les moyens matériels, l’environnement culturel, l’aisance sociale et les perspectives de développement d’un enfant européen de 8 ans. A âge égal, un européen à 25 ans peut être agrégé de l’université alors qu’un jeune arabe sera un chômeur désespéré, inculte, sans avenir, incapable de fonder un foyer, candidat au suicide.

Ceci est extrêmement grave et constitue le plus grand malheur des pays arabes.

Soutenir les jeunes arabes requiert une énorme action multidirectionnelle : créer des universités d’excellence, ouvrir grandes les portes aux échanges internationaux, développer la culture sous toutes ses formes, le cinéma, le livre, les voyages, la musique, le théâtre, responsabiliser les jeunes par l’encouragement de l’entreprise, l’encouragement de la liberté d’expression, l’encouragement de la créativité économique.

Il faut faire en sorte que le jeune puisse vivre. Un jeune arabe disait : « nous sommes déjà morts ; peu importe que nous perdions la vie dans une barque en fuyant. Nous avons au moins une chance de survivre à notre mort».

Pour que les jeunes améliorent notre avenir, faisons d’abord en sorte qu’ils vivent une vie normale, valorisante, « développante » dans leurs propre pays.

Quels préjugés d’ordre général relatifs au monde arabe souhaitez-vous évoquer et changer ?

La plupart des jugements portés sur les arabes sont malheureusement justifiés : ils sont incapables de s’entendre, ils prennent leurs décisions « à l’émotion », ils ne travaillent pas, leurs peuples sont abandonnés à leur sort, ils sont minés par la corruption.

Il y a cependant un préjugé extrêmement injuste, qui témoigne d’une grande ignorance et d’une grande prétention de la part de ses auteurs : il s’agit du préjugé sur l’intelligence arabe. Cette dernière est incontestable et constitue la chose la mieux partagée entre les peuples arabes. Ceux-ci sont virtuellement capables de donner le vertige à n’importe lequel de leurs partenaires mondiaux. Mais la réussite est souvent la rencontre entre une intelligence et des circonstances. Chez les arabes, les circonstances manquent.

Des présidents de nations européennes aujourd’hui prétendent qu’ils ont l’intelligence alors que tel peuple arabe ne possède que la main d’œuvre. Telle chanson clame que les occidentaux ont des idées quand les arabes n’ont que du pétrole.

Jamais les arabes n’ont réagi contre de telles insultes. Il ne s’agit certes pas de réagir avec violence, comme à l’accoutumée, mais de véritablement laisser s’exprimer les intelligences arabes, ce qui est la manière la plus efficace de lutter contre de tels préjugés.    

Quels sont vos aspirations pour l’avenir du monde arabe ?

- l’intelligence,

- la modération,

- le travail et l’efficience,

-une place pleine et entière donnée aux jeunes et à la femme.

FOURTH ESTATE > Yasser Akkaoui, Editor-in-Chief, Executive Magazine

 

'If we learn one lesson from the financial melt down, let it be that the only capital worth investing in is human capital.'

What is required to ensure economic stability in the region, particularly given the global financial meltdown?

“The concept of economics is very easy. Most economists today would agree that to appraise the economic health of any country, we must assess its consumption. We have to look at how people are consuming and investing, we have to look at the size of consumption, and we have to look at consumer appetites. Accordingly, we have to understand that the improvement of an economy depends on spending.

Consumption is entirely dependent on income, income is entirely dependent on wages, and wages are entirely dependent on jobs. If one does not have a job, he doesn’t make a wage; if one does not make a wage, he doesn’t have an income to spend, and thus cannot contribute to the economy. This is why the unemployed become a burden to any economy.

Using this logic, the role of any government is two-fold. First, the government must maximize the utility of its existing human resources. By minimizing unemployment, or creating as many jobs as possible, the government will increase the number of wages being paid, and therefore, incomes made and spent. This works as an immediate strategy for any economy of any state.

Second, the government must invest in its existing human resources, developing them so that they can not only adapt to ever-changing global economic realities, but also to increase efficiency, productivity, sustainability, and worth. When human resources are of greater value, the total amount of wages paid will increase, income will increase, and consumption will increase, accordingly.

Though it sounds easy, we remain unable in the Arab world to organize ourselves and achieve these two critical objectives, yet everything is dependent on this equation. If we learn one lesson from the financial melt down, let it be that the only capital worth investing in is human capital.”

What role can educational organizations or social organizations play in generating social progress in the region?

“We cannot rely on education alone to propagate social progress. To do so requires that various institutional players unite, including wise Ministries of Economy & Trade, Finance, and Labor.

Ministries of Labor are mandated to provide clear and accurate information regarding unemployment and the active population in a specific economy. At the same time, the Ministry of Economy & Trade and the Ministry of Finance must function together to provide the right environment which will promote investment in specific fields, and also create employment.

Furthermore, Ministries of Education must peg their educational systems to the best available around the globe and, on a competitive level, provide the finest possible education to their youth. Such a system, in turn, will yield citizens who contribute positively to an economy instead of those who simply graduate and become a burden to it.

Countries like UAE, who boast high levels of human development, are just disguised dysfunctional systems. There is no unemployment; the labor market is based purely on foreign labor. You either have a job, and you work and consume, or you don’t have a job and you return home only to become a burden unto your home country. UAE, and Dubai specifically, is a great model of a bad example.

Today’s biggest challenges remain in Saudi Arabia, the Levant, Oman, the North African nations, and Iraq. The least we can expect are mature, well-focused, governments that give the current economic problems the importance they deserve and act promptly, putting together strategies and action plans, that address our economic problems by creating synergies among all these Ministries and others. At the end of the day, dealing with economies from this perspective is the cheapest way. Education is the cheapest economic strategy and labor economic principles have proven to work.”

 

Yasser Akkaoui represents the interests of EXECUTIVE Magazine, Middle East’s most respected economic and trade publication since 2001. He strives to ensure that EXECUTIVE continues to be the leading business publication in the region, reaching the highest level of journalistic integrity. He is the founder of the Center for Strategic Studies, a non-profit organization engaged in awareness creation on employment concerns and resources development strategies for the 21st century.  He is also the founder of Capital Concept sal, a business development advisory firm that in addition to its consultancy services is specialized in fundraising for Civil Society initiatives clients include: World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa Development Forum and UNDP’s/LCPS Conflict Transformation and Prevention initiative. Yasser created PrimeJob, a headhunting agency working alongside some of the biggest companies around the Middle East and also a Management and Entrepreneurship instructor at The American University of Beirut, exposing students to real life case studies that help them assess opportunities in regional economies and adapt their decision making to the ever changing business environment in the Middle East.

 

CORPORATE VOICE > Nehmé Lebbos, GM, Owliance Consulting, on the support our youth need for the future

 

'Pour soutenir les jeunes dans leur rôle de vecteur du changement, nous devons faciliter leur accès aux NTIC'

 

(Scroll down to read this post in French) 

“My vision of youth’s role for the future is from a Lebanese point of view, mainly because my company is based in Lebanon. However, I have had the opportunity to ascertain that this point of view is also suitable for the Arab world as a whole as I have discussed the issue with other Managing Directors from Arab countries such as Jordan and Syria. I also received confirmation for my opinion as I have collaborated with several young professionals from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.

Young people are the driving forces for change in their respective societies, change in mentalities as well as change in methods used. They contribute with new skills and new knowledge, mainly through their command of new technologies. Web2.0 and the Internet community have enabled them to join the global community to gather information to which they would not otherwise have access to and become familiar with international indicators. For example, awareness on the importance of environmental issues is a new factor common to many young people in the Arab world today. Obviously the increased awareness is due to their travels abroad but also by surfing the Internet seeking international news. Therefore they lead the environmental awareness process at home: they will educate their parents and then, their own children. The same goes for women’s rights and children’s rights. If youth also benefit from support from their families to preserve their cultural identity, it enables them to evolve in accordance with their culture and their roots, such awareness can only be beneficial to youth and the Arab community as a whole.

In order to support youth as a force for positive change, Arab states have the responsibility to give them access to information and culture by facilitating access to new technology. I believe it is the government’s role to promote genuine democratization of these technologies so that access to information doesn’t remain the privilege of the wealthy. This democratization, of course, must be done with the appropriate procedures and training to protect the youngest of the dangers and abuses associated to the Internet. We can draw inspiration from the Western experience.

All this can only be possible if a debate is held at the level of Arab states and, why not, across the Arab world, on the issue of access to New Information and Communication Technology.”

Nehme Lebbos is the General Manager of Owliance Consulting, a Web2.0 Company in the Middle East. 

 

Quel rôle les jeunes peuvent-ils jouer dans le futur du monde arabe, et comment peut-on les y aider ?

“Mon point de vue sur le rôle des jeunes pour le futur est un point de vue libanais, car j’exerce mon activité de dirigeant d’entreprise au Liban.  J’ai cependant pu vérifier que ce point de vue était adapté à l’ensemble du monde arabe, lors des occasions qui m’ont été données de le partager avec des directeurs syriens ou encore jordaniens. J’ai également pu confirmer mon opinion lors de mes différentes collaborations professionnelles à Paris avec des jeunes venus de Tunisie, du Maroc ou encore d’Algérie.

Les jeunes sont vecteurs de changement dans leurs sociétés respectives. Un changement dans les mentalités et les méthodes. Ils apportent avec eux de nouveaux savoir-faire et de nouvelles connaissances, grâce notamment à leur maîtrise des Nouvelles technologies. Le web 2.0 et l’internet communautaire leur ont permis de se fondre dans une communauté globale, de récolter des informations auxquelles ils n’auraient pas eu accès par ailleurs, et de se familiariser avec des indicateurs internationaux. Par exemple, la prise de conscience de l’importance des questions écologiques est un nouveau facteur commun à de nombreux jeunes aujourd’hui dans le monde arabe. Ils y ont été sensibilisés bien sûr lors de leurs divers séjours à l’étranger, mais aussi lors de leurs navigations sur internet à la recherche de l’actualité mondiale. Ils sont ainsi, chez eux, vecteurs de cette prise de conscience écologique : ils y sensibiliseront leurs parents, puis leurs propres enfants. Il en va de même pour la question des droits de la femme et de l’enfant. Si ces jeunes bénéficient aussi d’un soutien et d’un encadrement familial qui préserve leur identité culturelle et leur permet d’évoluer dans le respect de leur culture et de leurs racines, ces prises de conscience ne peuvent être que bénéfiques pour eux et pour toute la société du monde arabe.

Pour soutenir les jeunes dans ce rôle de vecteur d’un changement positif, il est de la responsabilité des états arabes de leur donner accès à l’information et à la culture, en leur facilitant l’accès aux nouvelles technologies. Il s’agit selon moi pour les gouvernements de lancer une véritable démocratisation de ces technologies, pour qu’elles ne restent pas l’apanage des plus fortunés. Cette démocratisation doit bien sûr s’accompagner de démarches et formations pour protéger les plus jeunes des dangers et des dérives de l’internet. Nous pouvons pour cela nous inspirer de l’expérience occidentale. 

Mais tout ceci ne sera possible que si une grande réflexion est lancée, à l’échelle des états arabes et pourquoi pas de manière transversale dans tout le monde arabe, sur cette question de l’accès des populations aux NTIC.”

40 ans, Expert en Nouvelles Technologies, de formation Ingénieur Système d’Information (CNAM, Paris) et Ingénierie du Management (Paris X), Nehmé a notamment travaillé chez Havas (Publicité, Média) et Valoris (cabinet de conseil) en France. Pendant 15 ans, il a géré des projets de grandes envergures et a mené des missions de conseil, notamment la mise en place de site Internet / Intranet (Seliance voyage, e-Rothschild, e-Laser – Groupe Galerie Lafayette) et des systèmes de Business Intelligence et CRM (Société Générale, BNP,  Paribas, Komerční Banka (Prague), NSMD, Zebank, Zurich Assurance, CFF, …) dédié au Contrôle de Gestion, à la fidélisation clients et au Marketing opérationnel et stratégique. Fondateur du portail www.iloubnan.info, Il assure aujourd’hui le poste de Directeur General d’Owliance Consulting (Moyen Orient).

 

 

 

DIALOGUE EXCLUSIVE > Dr Fouad Shaker, Secretary General, UAB, on challenges and opportunities for central bank policies amidst the financial turmoil

“The world’s central banks have already undergone dramatic changes since the start of the credit crises more than a year ago. They cut interest rates with unprecedented rapidity- may be in some countries to historical lows. They have massively increased banks’ liquidity to meet heightened private sector demand.

It is obvious that with the crises eruption central banks are practicing not only their conventional functions, be it their supervisory role or managing monetary policy or foreign exchange, but they also revamp the old concepts  in the central banking literature to become de facto central counter parties in the money markets. Yet, in some cases, they act as direct lenders to companies. Unlike their orthodox culture, they are making liquidity available against collateral on terms far more favorable than those that prevail in the private markets.

Whether the direct interference of central banks as lenders to customers together with being lender of last resort to banks will be in the near future a blessing or it will be a curse, is an unpredictable issue so far. No one would argue the power of central banks in stimulating demand by adopting expansionary policies. However, no one would deny the negative consequences when they excessively adopt cheap money policy or practice commercial banks functions by lending customers directly. Not to mention it is generally accepted in the economic literature that the over interference of central banks in the credit market would impede their supervisory role and bring forth economic malpractices. Thus, it is widely perceived among central bankers that this issue is a compromizable one subject to highly accurate calculations.

Having central banks adopted the aforesaid criteria, no one would argue the fact that they will have become in effect catastrophic risk insurers of last resort for whole classes of financial assets, taking on the risk that the crises could become so bad that they can not recoup their loans. Taking into consideration as well, the high probability of distortion for investment standards. This would be a direct cause for the decrease in the competitiveness degree for the economy not to mention the seeds for another crises, even larger and more destructive.

 The Federal Reserve (USA) took steps to cut interest rates virtually to zero and said it would create money to finance ever larger credit operations. Already the fed arguably has one companion, the Bank of Japan. The BOJ cut rates to nearly zero. Stepped up its purchases of government bonds and said it would buy commercial papers. Of course, both of them followed the well-known rule that stipulates; when central banks want to stimulate a slowing economy they normally cut interest rates. But when rates approach zero other tactics must be employed. Like the Fed, the BOJ is likely to end up funding these purchases by expanding its holdings of bank reserves and therefore the narrowest measure of the money supply. Unlike the Fed, it has the option of issuing its own dept instead.

As for Europe, the Bank of England while cautioning against assuming that it will follow the fed into unorthodox territory, is thinking about what it might do in certain circumstances if UK interest rates also fell towards zero. The European central bank as a whole is much less prepared to countenance the possibility that euro zone interest rates might end up so low. However, ECB officials say this does not rule out some forms of innovative operations.

That these issues are even being discussed in so many big economies is truly remarkable. Radical as the measures taken by central banks collectively to date are, the territory that lies beyond zero rate is still more unfamiliar. Only Japan has any experience of unorthodox monetary policy. At the turn of this decade it adopted a strategy of quantitative easing. Increasing the money supply by increasing bank reserves in the hope that this would end deflation and boast lending.

The strategies under consideration today bear some resemblance to Japan’s quantitative easing, since they involve swelling the central banks balance sheet by more than the amount required to accommodate an increase in the private sector’s demand for liquidity. It is obvious that the Fed’s strategy amounts “targeted QE” although the Fed officials do not think quantitative easing was a big success in Japan. The Fed says its own strategy is to stimulate the economy by driving down actual borrowing rates-increasing reserves only as a byproduct – and it prefers to call this credit policy or credit-based easing.

Even the Bank of Japan does not think quantitative easing was an enormous success, and denies that what it is doing now amounts to the same thing. The ECB remains distinctly wary about further cuts to official borrowing costs. Some officials concerned about running out of ammunition – a concern that runs directly contrary to Fed thinking – or of sowing the seeds of the next puble.

In fact, the atmosphere of the crises is still opaque and vague. This of course has created a general state of uncertainty. No wonder if there is a common feeling of mistrust among investors not in single country or region but worldwide. Therefore, it will take longer time to enhance the international economy unless the real reasons for the crises have been addressed.

To this extent, tens of questions should be answered; the most important of which are the following:

-          Were the developed economies serious when they referred to the developing economies as partners in the aftermath of the crises?

-          What is the transparency’s real meaning and who is entitled to interpret it?

-          What is the future of globalization, specially the free trade and the open door policies in light of the implicit subsidy for producers in the developed countries?

-          What will be the role of the international economic organizations (IMF, World Bank, WTO) in the aftermath of the crises?

-          Having rating agencies as a part of the problem, are they ready for overall reform?

-          The Capital Markets and Stock Exchanges; are they able to reflect the real prices? Or in other words, is it possible to protect people from the harmful speculations and from being deceived?

-          To what extent will the derivatives be swelling far from their original role for hedging?”

 

 Dr Fouad Shaker is the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) & the Secretary General of World Union of Arab Bankers. Dr Shaker holds a Ph.D. in business administration (finance) and is a chartered accountant. His previous associations include: General Director, banking supervision division, the Central Bank of Egypt; Assistant Director, banking supervision for training and development, and Advisor to the Governor, Central Bank of Kuwait; and Senior Inspector to several Egyptian Banks including Bank  Misr, Bour Said, Bank Al – Jamhuria. Dr. Shaker has a long record of training and advisory activities. He used to give lectures on economics and finance at several Egyptian universities and supervised PhD dissertations. He also used to give training programs at Egyptian and Arab banking academies. He served during the 1970s and 1980s as an Advisor to the Egyptian Investment Authority, and as an Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Financial Affairs. Dr. Shaker has authored several research papers and books on economic, banking supervisory and financial issues. He is also a senior speaker at international and Arab Conferences.

WE THE PEOPLE > Afifa Karake, Beirut

 

'Les planifications à long terme sont rares...'

“Les pays arabes sont riches en ressources humaines et naturelles, pourtant les gouvernements qui se succèdent, n’ont jamais exploité cette richesse afin de développer et d’évoluer les nations.

Les planifications à long terme sont rares ou même absentes ainsi que les politiques de dirigisme, de formation professionnelle et de développement.

L’être humain, le principal élément de l’évolution d’un pays, n’avait jamais été dans la plupart des états l’objectif d’une politique de développement.

Si j’avais le pouvoir de changer j’aurais :    

1 – Planifié un dirigisme économique et social qui repose sur le développement de l’industrie et de l’agriculture de tout le territoire national(toutes les provinces).

2 – Investi dans les domaines d’éducation, de culture, de formation et de développement des ressources humaines ainsi que dans les secteurs des recherches scientifiques appropriées au dirigisme prévu.   

3 – Profité des sources naturelles renouvelables trouvées dans chaque pays (eau, vent, soleil, …) pour produire l’énergie électrique afin d’économiser les sources épuisables etcoûteuses surtout pour les pays pauvres en combustibles fossiles (pétrole, gaz naturel, …). 

4 – Audité et contrôlé les établissements publiques pour assurer la qualité des produits ou des services et réduire la fuite d’argent.”

 

THE FOURTH ESTATE > Valiya S. Sajjad, Reporter, Arab Times, Kuwait

“The summit is a great idea because a rethink at a regional and global level on the current economic order is a must for us to be able to really disentangle the complexities of the economic crisis.

Already economists around the world have begun to interpret the crisis on the basis of their schools of thought. Marxists are celebrating the sharp increase in the sale of Das Kapital in Europe, and think it prefigures Europe returning to socialist values that it abandoned following the disintegration of the Soviet Union. They are assuming a told-you-so attitude, and blame the inherent flaws in the capitalist order for the crisis.

On the other hand, there are Islamists who blame the excesses of a free market economy with lax regulations that blew up bubbles that broke. Islamic banks took the least direct hit from the subprime mortgage crisis, which is considered the starting point of the whole downturn, they argue.

At the other extreme, we have proponents of free market economy like Francis Fukoyama, who stubbornly support liberal economy and argue that it is the foundation for liberal democracy. In his book ‘End of History’ he makes a strong case for neo liberalism and even interprets it as the final stage in the evolution of man’s political and economic system. Whether his model is explained by Hegelian dialectics is not known.

These may sound like very fundamental issues, and I wonder if the summit will even attempt to address them. The focus is going to be more on what the ME countries are going to do to weather the crisis and come out of it unscathed.

I think the Arab countries must stop acting as rentier states and free themselves from their dependence on western economies. They must also focus more on diversifying their economy without heavily depending on any one revenue source, such as oil.”

THE YOUTH > Sara Masouh, Kuwait

'Believe in people's potential, not in 'labels'

“I think that if the Summit and if we – as a region – are to progress in whatever we want to achieve, then we need to start with the basics by thinking and going beyond the present differentiating gap between ‘the haves’ Arab states and the ‘the have-nots’ Arab states.

And for this, ‘Equity’ is the first step to start with. We need to be and consider others on a equal playing field – devoid of narrow labels like nationality, religion, ethnicity, gender. History has proven time and time again that because of these ‘labels’ that people use to define others – instead of seeing them as what they are, that is another human being – that we land up in wars or fighting social injustice and unequal opportunities.

Instead of looking outside at external factors (to solve any problem, be it economic or social), we need to first look within to weed out any prejudices we have. Every human being has a potential that needs an opportunity to be recognized. ‘Labels’ are a blindfold which stops people from truly acknowledging the potential in others.

I believe we should all be treated with equity, as ONE, no difference. Only then can we have peace. Only then can we ensure equal generation and distribution of wealth. Only then can we ensure that people are not deprived of knowledge – be it technical or fundamental – to make wise financial decisions, or bring about social change.

Believe in people’s potential, not where they come from or their cultural background, or any such ‘labels’.”

CORPORATE VOICE > Rasem Dabbas, PhD, Operations Manager, Nestle Waters Jordan, on what he aspires towards the region’s future

 

'I aspire that we attract the Arab intellects living abroad back to the region to accelerate development and transfer knowledge.'

“Trust, Collective Collaboration, and Action are among my aspirations from this upcoming Economic Summit…

The time is right for our leaders to focus on the region’s economic development especially after the global financial meltdown.  The Arab world has a population of around 300 million people and this number will double in three decades.  The majority of this population is under the age of 35.  The Arab world holds some of the richest natural resources in the world.  The Arab world holds the largest sovereignty funds in the world.  The Arab world holds some of the most fertile lands.  Despite all of the aforementioned, we still import 60% of our food needs from abroad.  Furthermore, 70% of the regions imports come from abroad and 70% of the region’s exports go abroad.  Unemployment is on the rise and regional conflicts are developing.  Economic development is the cure.

I aspire for collective collaboration between Arab countries that leads to integration of our economic resources: oil money, work force, & natural resources.

I aspire to boost agriculture in the Arab world to ensure food security for the region.

I aspire that we seriously invest in higher education & scientific research.

I aspire that we attract the Arab intellects living abroad back to the region to accelerate development and transfer knowledge.

I aspire that we invest in building an infrastructure of roads and railways that connects the Arab world.

I aspire that we invest more in enhancing environmental awareness.

I aspire for a unified currency and implementation of free trade agreements.

Thanks to the global financial crisis.  Both Arab individuals and governments must now reconsider investing their wealth in the region on “real” projects that employ our youth instead of investing in paper derivatives abroad!  We must now focus on building a promising future for our youth and give them the support so the Arab region can play an increasingly significant role in global economics in the future and the time is just right! 

I must caution, however, that I am afraid that my aspirations will not be fulfilled unless we allow democratic representation of our citizens in governments so they get a fair chance to participate in formulating fair and unbiased principles.  We must push harder for democratic reform in the entire region!”

 

Rasem Dabbas is currently responsible for Nestle Waters operation in Jordan where he raised the market share up to 50% and was earlier with Nestle Water in the UAE. His previous associations include TEFEN USA where he was a business consultant before moving to Motorola where he was the Director of Supply Chain operations. Rasem holds an MBA and PHD in Industrial Engineering & Operations Management from the Arizona State University, Phoenix, amongst other qualifications.  

 

WE THE PEOPLE > Dr Cherifa Aboul Fettouh, Egypt

 

“The global financial crisis is a good opportunity to make us reconsider the relations between Arab countries and one another.  Arab countries should follow the European way of thinking and consider having one currency even if this plan is in ten years time; it should be and remain on our future agenda.

We should also consider free zone trade, based on quality and transparency which will encourage Arab local products and reduce the consumption of foreign currencies and this will definitely reflect on our economic growth.

We should deal with one another as real partners not as adversaries or enemies; this is not an easy task in the short term! Our relations should be based on unity, respect, and true love, realizing that this is in the best interest and welfare of all.

Our news media can play a stronger role rather than criticizing one another publicly considering the influential impact that media has on public opinion and mobilizing the Arab people.

The private sector can be instrumental in frequently conducting summits that aim for economic and social welfare by not just involving government participation, but also participation by reliable people who are members of the masses.

What is also required is redistribution of wealth especially from the Arab countries, instead of concentration of it in European and American market.

We need to study, measure and analyze the richness of resources, opportunities and advantages that each Arab country has, so that we can learn and benefit from each other more by exchanging knowledge with experts across fields, and to enrich our cultural perceptions.

Most importantly, we should believe in ourselves and work on a carefully studied future plan that draws lessons learnt from our past mistakes in order to command respect from the rest of the world.”

Dr Cherifa Aboul Fettouh is a Medical Nutrition Consultant and is associated with a nutritional clinic in Egypt by the same name. 

THE YOUTH > Nayla Hage, Lebanon

 

'We should be able to control our future without being scared to dream or plan our goals ahead of time!'

 

“I am a Lebanese fresh graduate who has the same aspirations and the same dreams as a French or English fresh graduate student. But the difference is that we, the Arab young people, are considered as the ones who aspire for the unreachable and unattainable goals because we are living in one of the most financially and politically unstable region.

So we ask ourselves each and every second of our lives the following question: do we have the right to dream of a better and prosperous future where we can achieve our goals? This question remains without any answer since we are constantly bombarded with financial crisis threatening our jobs and future.

We should be able to control our future without being scared to dream or to plan our goals ahead of time! It is everyone’s right to dream of a stable economy in his/her country where he can prove his/her capacities and achieve his objectives. This unstable era should end right now and we are the ones who can stop it!

The problem with the Arab region is that they depend a lot on the American economy. As a result; they become just followers of a culture embedded with wrong financial decisions dominating the whole world and drowning it in a deep financial crisis. It is time for the Arabs to realize how important their unity is for their growth. They should be aware of the damage they are handing on to the young students who are craving for a good job opportunity in their own country. The government should get united for the first time in history to save the young generation from a real unemployment crisis which will cause a true revolution in the Arab world.

I hope that the Arab Economic Summit will be able to achieve these goals of uniting the Arab countries and discuss financial issues rising above all the political constraints.” 

WE THE PEOPLE > Abd Al Rahman Khalil

“Education, as viewed by many, is a major cornerstone to enhance adaptation and levity for both individuals and societies all over the globe in order to reach their desired aims and ambitions of a better life that guarantees prosperity and welfare. 

In the Arab World, like lots of other third world countries, education should receive a high priority in policy formation and planning. The reason being that education is strategically vital for pushing the understanding of individuals forward, so that they can acquire the necessary tools to utilize and pioneer the different resources available to them. Consequently, the benefits of such understanding will definitely lead to enhancing the quality of life those very individuals live on a daily basis.

Generally speaking, the Arab world has made significant leaps towards a better education environment and the outcomes proved to be promising in a sense. Lots of universities, institutes, and schools have been established and therefore, the percentage of illiteracy has declined remarkably over the past three decades.

However, lots of those involved and in touch with education believe that the process still needs to be more effective and practical. The results after 12 years of learning – to some it reaches up to 16 – seem to be disappointing because dependability on teachers and traditional teaching methods prevent learners from reaching their potential and creativity levels or realizing the importance of discovering and exploring their surroundings and their inner abilities.

It is believed that more funds have to invested in education as it is obvious that most educational entities lack the basic facilities needed to improve the quality of learning. Let alone the necessary technological equipment that learners need to develop their skills, there’s a serious shortage in the number of classrooms as most schools tend to be overcrowded and desperately need teaching aids to fulfill the objectives of the learning process.

Researchers in this field believe that it’s urgent to call for extensive training programs for teachers who in most cases still depend on the most traditional teaching methods. Those teachers need to be trained on the latest methods in the field, so they can inspire their students and help them improve their analytical thinking which is the main step to evaluate and understand one’s surroundings.

All in all, education in the Arab world has a fine chance to overcome most of the challenges mentioned above only if a strategic planning is put forth to formulate a better conscious regarding the drawbacks that negatively affect its enhancement.”

 

Abd Al Rahman Khalil is a lecturer at a technical training institute in Dubai. For over 10 years, he has also served as an English instructor for TOEFL and IELTS. 

CORPORATE VOICE > Omran Yousef, CEO, IPRO Development Co, UAE, on key issues

Peace, unity and prosperity are the three most elusive aspirations for the Arab Region: Omran Yousef

 

 

What I aspire towards for the region’s future… 

“Peace, unity and prosperity are the three most elusive aspirations for the Arab Region. These in turn will bring hope, a new perspective and a sense of identity.”

Our educational and social organizations…

 “Educational organizations are pivotal in providing the foundation for our young and foster the growth and development for our future. It is fundamental that education be unbiased and founded on intellectual rigor to raise standards and elevate what is the ‘cornerstone’ of society and the basis of a diversified social and economic progress. Social organizations are the moderators that provide a conscious for the establishment to ensure that a fair and equitable distribution of welfare and opportunity.”

Our youth…

 “…is fragile, innocent, pure, and readily influenced, open minded and able to be cultivated in the aspirations for the development of one’s Culture and Heritage. We should cherish what we have and understand that our future is in our children’s hands, that our children are a reflection of what we provide and give them. Our youth have the opportunity of shaping our future that embodies the aspirations of change, growth and a prosperous destiny…”

The global misconceptions about the Arab region that I’d like to address…

“That the majority of the people that make up the Arab world are no different to any other social group anywhere else in the world.

“That family values are equally as rich and responsible no matter where people come from, that social and cultural values are a diversity and not a difference.

“That religion and its practice, has many different ideologies and beliefs, that the practice or not of religion is a personal conviction that does not make any one person better or lesser than another.

“That it is what is in the heart of the individual that is important, how one treats his brother or sister that is even more important, showing respect and regard for others no matter what their social standing or educational background is, is even more important, and is the real gauge as to what type of person an individual is.”

The private sector…

“…should demonstrate a social conscious that reflects their economic success of their area of business.

“Businesses should be the ‘grass-roots’ level of social change and responsibility, and be encouraged to be the initiators of ‘small’ change, the ‘doers’ that have an even more beneficial impact and benefit than that of Governments and Authorities.

“Have the understanding and awareness that small change at the private sector level has an even greater impact and success than the attempts of Governments to cause change.

“One of the most significant socially progressive and responsible activities that the private sector can partake in, is to initiate programmes that are focused on environmental issues, that can have accountable benefits even at the smallest of degrees. The private sector should lead by example at the community level.”

What is required to ensure economic stability in the region, particularly given the global financial meltdown?

“The recognition that unfair exploitation in any aspect of commercial or labour trading is detrimental to any form of economic stability.

“Development of programmes that focus on the provision of local needs whether by agriculture, fabrication, or manufacture to contribute to local and regional economy, as well by developing local skills, contributing to local employment and collectively contributing to economic stimulus.”

What welfare opportunities need to be generated across the Arab region?

“Identify and understand the diversity of welfare issues and needs within the local community through to the wider region, what your community can do to assist and what its strengths are in being able to share and care to others.

“The wealthier and better off should with respect, work to create programmes that reach out to the less fortunate, and establish higher levels of assistance that are more difficult for others to promote or contribute to.

“Programmes that relate to basic necessities of healthy living are the cornerstone of welfare programmes when not a crisis, and these should be developed wherever possible at Governmental level based on collective cooperation.”

What measures can the Arab states take to together build a robust regional economy and augment social progress?

“Collective cooperation between Governments in developing regional strategies, and development programmes that share location and mutual benefits and opportunities.”

How can we secure food sufficiency, environmental sustainability, energy sufficiency, and better public transportation infrastructure?

“Again, this is an issue where regional Governments need to develop collective cooperation programmes.

“The fundamental issue for the future is sustainability and through the true ownership of the future at a local impact, regional and global level, there are many initiatives that we as individuals can all take an active role in identifying beneficial programmes or wider scale initiatives that contribute to all mankind.”

 

 

Omran Yousef is the Chief Executive Officer of IPRO Development and plays a plays a key role in the strategic direction of the Company. Omran has over 10 years’ experience in the property industry across a broad spectrum of areas, including Construction, Project Management, Development Management, Funds Management and Asset Management. IPRO was established in 2008 in the UAE as a Property Management and Development Company, also licensed to purchase and sell properties. 

SOCIAL WELFARE > Essma Ben Hamida, Executive Director, ENDA Inter-Arabe, on the potential of microfinance in regional development

 

Microfinance has a 30-year proven record of success in contributing forcefully to poverty alleviation: Essma Ben Hamida

“Achieving the Summit’s goals will be possible through actions at macro-economic level by governments combined with myriad efforts at local level by actors such as civil society.

One way of fostering economic and social well-being among the poorer members of Arab society is to promote micro-enterprise through access to micro-finance. Micro-finance is best handled by private-sector, not-for-profit organisations (micro-finance institutions). 

The Arab region is already where the micro-finance sector is growing the fastest, with over 100 institutions currently providing services to 3.5 million micro-entrepreneurs with a portfolio approaching $ 2 billion. However, well under 10 per cent of the potential market is being served, leaving considerable scope for expansion and new actors.

Micro-enterprise enables underprivileged people, especially women, to improve their livelihoods independently with dignity, thus reducing the need for government poverty-alleviation programmes, freeing up resources for support to the non-entrepreneurial poor.

Microfinance has a 30-year proven record of success in contributing forcefully to poverty alleviation. It has the advantage of being culturally acceptable and, when well-managed, self-sufficient: what borrowers pay for their loans covers running costs and makes possible refinancing through commercial loans. It does not need to call on financial support from governments, again freeing up scarce resources.

What is required to stimulate micro-finance in the region is an enabling environment (most countries of the region have not yet set up legislation and regulations which promote internationally-recognised microfinance best practices), strong government support and encouragement for the sector, and adequate funding on commercial or subsidised terms which oil-rich Arab countries should be able to provide.

Finally, micro-finance institutions, with direct access to millions of citizens, can contribute directly (through appropriately oriented loans) or indirectly (through advice on increased food security, energy self-sufficiency and sustainable development) to the achievement of the Summit’s goals. Such contributions can include: loans for solar energy, loans for livestock and agricultural production, loans for storage to reduce waste, discussion groups on energy savings and environmental issues in general.”

 

Essma Ben Hamida is a development activist and the Co-Founder and Executive Director of ENDA Inter-Arabe, the first and only best practice microfinance institution operating in Tunisia since 1995. She has also served as the Chairperson of Sanabel, the microfinance network in the Arab Countries, of which she is also the founding member. Born in Tunisia, Essma began her career as a teacher and journalist. She opened the first bureau of the Tunisian Press Agency, TAP, in New York at the United Nations and the Rome bureau of the International Foundation for Development Alternatives (IFDA). She has worked as a senior journalist with the Third World Press Agency, Inter-Press Service (Rome & Geneva). In 1986, she visited the Palestinian Occupied territories and wrote a series of articles on the conditions of the Palestinian people later published as a book ‘The Palestinian Uprising’ by the Third World Network. Essma has worked as a consultant for various UN agencies and is a CGAP/Sanabel certified trainer. ENDA Inter-Arabe has been ranked, by the MIX Market, as 30^th out of the top 100 microfinance institutions in the world. 

 

 

 

 

THE YOUTH > Ebrahim Hasan, Bahrain

 

'Investment should be directed towards the youth'

“I wish to see more collaboration between the Arab states on economic issues. I would like to see the customs fees between them cancelled entirely, inspection procedures made easier especially in the KSA, a unified currency that gives more stability and reduces inflation, collaborative economic efforts, accepting all hard currencies in exchange of oil so that we don’t suffer with the US dollar – the link between the US dollar and our currencies stopped too because clearly the US dollar has lost its position for good.

There seems to be a need for educational organisations to plan for the future needs of the economy with the governments so that they can introduce new economic sectors in the future in order to provide new job opportunities.

The youth are the new blood of the region. Providing them with the means to change the face of their countries is how we can progress and innovate. Investment should be directed towards them as they are invaluable resources.

It strikes me often that many of the movies I watch in the cinemas here in Bahrain spread a distorted image of Islam and Arabs. It blindly links Islam and Arabs to terror and backwardness. They do us a great disservice and serve the political agendas of foreign countries.

I see and appreciate that many big firms in the region spend resources on social responsibility issues. I would love to see more and more of that.”

SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY > Dr Khaled A. Al Banaa, Associate Research Scientist, KISR, on role of R&D institutes in technological development of energy sufficiency

 

We need to develop & commercialize sustainable energy sources: Dr Khaled A Al Banaa

“Around the world, most of the energy required for industry and house-hold use is derived from different sources like coal, hydro, nuclear, oil and gas etc.  During the last few decades, much importance is given to other energy sources which are renewable, sustainable and pollution free like solar, wind, biomass and energy from oceans.  As on date, most of the Arab countries derive energy from oil, since it is available at ease.  It may be available for another one century or so.  We need to develop and commercialize other sustainable energy sources.  Solar energy is a natural gift and is a boost for the Arab countries.  The highest solar irradiation is occurring on the Arabian Peninsula.  The mean monthly solar irradiance in the Arabian Peninsula is about 300 W/m2.  As of today, Kuwait’s total existing power plant capacity is about 9000 MW.  This is equal to solar power radiating on an area of about 30 square km.

Solar energy can be converted into electric power through many different ways.  One of the method is to super heat the freely available air and transfer the heat energy to working fluid in a closed cycle system (similar to Ammonia or Freon used in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion), run the turbine and generate power, and cooling the working fluid using the available seawater.  Already R&D works at the level of pilot plant are in progress around the world in this area. The Arab world can make use of this development and use solar power for producing sustainable and pollution-free power.

It is necessary to work for commercial-level power productions with power plants of many times the capacity of the existing thermal power plants in Kuwait.  If used efficiently, an area of about 333 square km can intercept about 100000 MW of solar irradiance.  Even with 20% overall efficiency, the power generated can be used to meet the demands of Kuwait and for sale to the neighboring Arab countries.

Development of such type of power plant will help in employing many thousands of people, generate billions of dollars as revenue through sale of power and we need not depend on the depleting oil resources.  R&D institutes like KISR should take the lead for developing the technology for such type of power production.”

Dr Khaled A Al Banaa is an Associate Research Scientist at the Coastal and Air Pollution Department, Environment and Urban Development Division of the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). He has been associated with KISR since 1994 and has also practiced research at Cornell University, USA, from where he secured a PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering. He is a member of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO; of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), USA; an advisory committee member for international short courses and workshops on coastal process and port engineering, Italy; and was a scientific committee member for the First Regional Conference on ‘Geoinformatics: Disaster Management and Early Warning Systems’. Dr Al Banaa frequently conducts short courses and workshops, as well as authors scientific articles on coastal engineering. 

SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY > Dr Dorra Cherif, PhD, on the role of research, science & technology in socio-economic progress

 

Advancing science & technological research requires political will: Dr Dorra Cherif

“As the global crisis is unfolding (financial, food and environmental), the development of sciences and technologies will play a major role in the improvement of health conditions, the environment, as well as industrial, agricultural and energy production. 

Yet, the performance level achieved by Arabs states in the field of sciences and technologies remains very low, hampering efforts to reinforce their economic autonomy and capacity to innovate and ensure development on a sustainable basis. It is therefore urgent that Arab leaders should consider promoting sciences and technologies as a priority issue. 

It is above all a choice and a political will needs to be enacted. 

For instance, R&D (research and development) spending account at best for 0.2% of GNP for the entire Arab World, while Israel, in comparison, is spending 4.4% of its GNP, and an average of about 1.7% of the world’s GNP is devoted to R&D (UNESCO’s Report on Science – 2006).

Sciences and technologies in the Arab World require, therefore, an increased investment in terms of resources (both financial and human) and a restructuring of the R&D systems so that the latter might be oriented towards objectives enabling to address national and regional needs (in terms of public health, meeting the demand for food, environmental protection and energy saving).

Research centres in biotechnology equipped with high performance technological capabilities need to be set in place or further strengthened. Research programs to be carried out in partnership with various Arab countries must be stimulated. Incentive measures must equally be set in place to encourage the private sector to invest in the area of R&D. 

It is imperative that Arab populations gain a wider access to the new information and communication technologies (ICT). Indeed, access to available databases provided by scientific research networks, access to libraries and to the various pedagogical resources is indispensable to achieve the transition of Arab countries towards knowledge-based societies.”

Dr Dorra Cherif obtained a PhD in genetic sciences from the University of Paris. She spent the better part of her career in Paris at the National Institute of Medical Research (INSERM), then joined the private sector at GENSET (a biotechnology firm based on genomic). In 2003, she founded MCL (Molecular Cytogenetics Labs) specialized in the techniques of fine analyses of chromosomes. Since 2007, she has been residing in Tunis where she is performing as a consultant. 

SOCIAL WELFARE > Dr. Soukaina Bouraoui, Executive Director of the Center of Arab Women for Training & Research, Tunis on the cultural representation of women

 

 

Dr Soukaina Bouraoui, Executive Director, CAWTAR

“ First of all, I would like to congratulate the organizers of this initiative that comes as a translation of a will to team up a large spectrum of the Arab civil society with the official representatives of Arab countries to address an open and seminal topic.

The Arab World is plagued by a host of prejudices forged by the “outside” world, but also by the Arab World itself. In order to fight these prejudices, one has to probe them, subject them to analysis and produce the evidence that will refute them.

Let us cite a topical example of Arab women’s image in the media, be they Western or Arab.

This example refers us to another equally simplistic prejudice – that one which is concealed under the class name of “Arabs”; which in real fact reveals a single-minded and a very simplistic vision.

The media in particular are those responsible for conveying and spreading such a limited perception of “the Arabs”. In fact, what they let you see and perceive is an image that is thoroughly stereotyped, and discrepant from reality – an image that needs to be offset in order to provide the disclaiming proofs.

Indeed we may justifiably wonder, if we consider the broadcasts that have been displayed before us, where is the share of the female leaders in their communities, such as those who championed negotiations and resolutions of conflicts in a given region of Sudan? Why are there not more men who would acknowledge the role that their mothers and grandmothers, or still their spouses have played in order for them to pursue their studies, achieve progress in their career or simply fulfilment in their family lives?

Do we listen in the “serious” debates that are conducted in TV, such as those dealing with war and peace, or the current economic meltdown, to the voices of Arab women and alternatively to their proposals? Must they remain confined to broadcasts that are specifically female-oriented, as though they had never played vanguard roles in our history and as if our future did not also depend on one half of its citizens? 

Let us give voice to our poets, to our creators, to our artists, to our intellectuals, both males and females – even to the most maverick and unconventional amongst them – so that we may prove that the diversity we are upholding is not only the biological diversity of the flora and fauna, nor that of “the Arabs” as distinguished from non-Arabs,  but that this diversity is to be traced in our own selves, that it prevails among us, that it is the basis of what used to be our greatness and of what would provide the source of our strength.

A diversity to be flourished without complex – one which does not contravene the requirements of equal opportunities and treatment of all, irrespective of gender.

Such equality is meant to benefit all those who have been living and working in the Arab countries, no matter their status.

This is one of the aspirations nourished by many of the Arab men and women I have come across… I can vouch for that.”

 

Dr. Soukaina Bouraoui has been Executive Director of CAWTAR, the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research, since 1999. She has a background in both nonprofits and academia, and founded the National Research, Documentation and Information Women Center in 1991. She also taught law at the University of Tunis.

She serves on the board of directors for several organizations, including the Tunisian Association of the Criminal Law, the International Association of Economic Law and the International Comparative Environment Law Association. 

CORPORATE VOICE > Jonathan Lyon, CEO, Burgan Bank Kuwait on the role of corporate governance in regional economic sustainability

 

 

Jonathan Lyon, CEO, Burgan Bank Kuwait

“If there are two lessons that one can learn from the US sub-prime mortgage crisis that triggered off what has now become a global financial meltdown with wide-spread ramifications, its (1) the increasing need for financial literacy amongst all sections of society, and (2) the need for strong corporate governance compliance by private sector players, particularly financial and banking institutions.

As both governments and investors rely upon increased regional privatization to create long-term returns and social wealth, the private sector players need to review, implement and monitor their financial accountability, transparency, internal control processes and systems, and risk diligence & mitigation more aggressively now than ever before. We need an independent/quasi-government regulator that will align the growth potential of the private sector with Corporate Governance guidelines stipulated by our Central Banks, our stock exchanges, the OECD, the World Bank, the Basel Accords and other globally accepted best practices. And while doing so, we need to bear in mind that the Arab economy is very distinctive in its composition and its revenue generation streams (for instance, in Kuwait, SMEs account for close to 80% of the country’s economic backbone) which present unique challenges and opportunities within which to tailor and implement relevant Corporate Governance measures.

We live in times which are challenging, but which still hold potential. Many of us are expanding into new regional markets. Many of us have been building a corporate reputation that attracts local and international investments. And as we build a stronger Arab region that will increasingly play a critical role in world economy; we need to consider more seriously Corporate Governance and Financial Literacy to ensure the benefit of all sectors of the economy and society itself.”

 

Jonathan D. Lyon is the CEO and Chief General Manager of Burgan Bank, which is amongst the leading commercial banks in the state of Kuwait. The Bank was recognized as one of the leading banks in the region to uphold sound corporate governance policies and best practices at the ‘Regional 2008 Bank Corporate Governance Award’ held by the Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance in association with the Union of Arab Banks. This is the second consecutive year that Burgan Bank has been conferred this Award; the previous year, it emerged as the winner of the region’s first-ever ‘Hawkamah UAB Bank Corporate Governance Award 2007’, having contended with over 40 banking institutions across the region for the coveted title. 

CORPORATE VOICE > Safa Al Hashem, Founder, Chairman & MD of Advantage Consulting Kuwait on the potential of the private sector

"The dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow": Safa Al Hashem

 

 

 

“There is no doubt that the private sector has brought about prosperity and development of the economy as well as our society. Even as we pass through trying times with the global financial meltdown the Private-sector corporations still contribute significantly to our economy.

The private sector’s involvement in economic development can take many forms, from major multinationals to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and range across a wide diversity of sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture, and the industrial sector.

As we cruise through the 2008 global economic turmoil, it has become more obvious than ever that the private sector is the only solution to making our way back to stability. And this can be achieved through transparency and implementation of good Corporate Governance. Corporate Governance has to assume a much greater significance in the private sector now to encourage a culture of transparency and accountability.

The private sector has to increase its focus on its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives as well. CSR spans the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental – and encompasses a vast field of voluntary action by business. CSR is about responsibility, not just compliance. If, in this way, CSR is conceived as a means of self-regulation by business, it can help minimize regulatory burdens for business and narrow the gap between the society and the private institutions. 

In the current global scenario, the private sector has to play a major role in building a more durable, integrated financial system by developing a strong foundation for successful crisis resolution. We need to develop a mature market, which is based on stable relationships among players and through initiatives to call for values of good governance, transparency and cooperation. While doing so it must also be ensured that practices adopted be continuously reviewed.

By taking an initiative in implementing necessary policies and enhancing core capabilities by encouraging executive education and on the job training, the private sector can lead the country into economic and social development and elevate the standard of living.

Finally and most importantly, private sector should invest in the younger generation. This should be in the form of training or setting up intermediary organizations where young, talented youths should be trained to take up the mantle of businesses in the upcoming years. For this, private entities should form partnerships in support of this agenda to help more youth succeed financially, more skilled and to help employers find and develop a more qualified work force with this local talent.

Founder, Chairman & Managing Director of Advantage Consulting, Safa Al Hashem has over 22 years of experience in applying best practices to translate business strategies into attainable objectives at a micro-level and conflict resolution. She was recognized as the ‘Female CEO of the Year’ at the CEO Middle East Awards 2007 and received the ‘Businesswoman of the Year’ Award at the 7^th Middle East Businesswomen and Leaders Achievement Award held by the Middle East Excellence Awards Institute UAE in 2008. She also features on the list of prominent women personalities identified by Kuwait’s Parliament Committee on Women’s Affairs. The Arabian Business Magazine also listed her as amongst the GCC’s top 100 executives. A Kuwait University graduate (BS in English Literature), Safa also holds an MBA from the University of Southern California. She is a Certified Organizational Development Specialist and a Certified Targeted Selection Interviewer.