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AAI in the News

Arab Growth Strategies to be Discussed

Gulf Daily News
Posted on Thursday October 13, 2005

MANAMA: The Arab Business Council (ABC) will hold its annual meeting in Bahrain on November 9 and 10.

The ABC, an initiative of the World Economic Forum, is composed of 80 top Arab business leaders who are committed to the mission of “enhancing competitiveness in the Arab world”.

In its third year of existence, the council aims to represent the Arab business community.

The meeting is convening an exclusive group of Arab leaders from government, business and civil society to work together with eminent scholars and experts.

Over the two-day meeting, ABC will formulate and deliver the message of the Arab private sector to the two-day Forum of the Future meeting of foreign affairs officials from G8 countries and the Arab world, which begins on November 11.

The discussions will focus on issues the region is facing, namely governance, youth, education and trade.

They will be supported by the results of an exclusive, region-wide public opinion survey conducted by Zogby International.

ABC’s message on governance will include a set of recommendations on how to approach the nature, role and development of political Islam in the context of democratic institutions.

It will also address specific measures that the business community believes can be implemented in the immediate term to realise tangible improvements in transparency and accountability.

In addition, the ABC Annual Meeting will serve as a forum for its members to formulate an agenda of action for the coming 12 months in pursuit of their mission of enhancing competitiveness in the Arab world.

ABC members will engage Arab governments and civil society in substantive discussions of private sector-led initiatives in the following areas:

l Youth and Education: bringing together youth, educators, religious leaders, government officials and businessmen to try to gain fresh insights into the largely unstudied problem of youth and adolescence in the Arab world. Recommendations will be made to Arab governments to reform their education systems to focus on innovation and development of leadership skills.

l Governance: aiming to adopt transparency and best practice standards in the management of companies and to urge Arab governments to implement budgetary transparency benchmarks and engage in the reform of public institutions and the judiciary.

l Media: planning to move forward with the launching of the Arab Media Initiative conceived in May to strengthen the Arab media industry as an independent agent of positive change in the region.

l Competitiveness: showcasing the progress of the National Competitiveness Councils of Egypt, Bahrain and Kuwait, who will present five policy recommendations from their national competitiveness reports to support the creation of National Competitiveness Councils in other Arab countries.

l Trade: discussing preliminary results of a study commissioned by the ABC on the impact of a US-Arab Free Trade Agreement (FTA), providing a framework for the business community to work more effectively with governments to qualify and benefit from such an agreement, particularly in terms of intra-Arab trade and the reforms that need to be implemented.

Led by Crown Prince and BDF Commander-in-Chief Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, participants will include Syrian Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdallah Dardari; Palestinian Authority Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan, Qatari Economy and Commerce Minister Shaikh Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, Egyptian Foreign Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Rachid, former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, Egyptian-based Artoc Group for Investment and Development chairman, chief executive officer and ABC chairman Shafik Gabr, Shamil Bank of Bahrain executive committee chairman and ABC vice-chairman Khalid Abdulla Janahi, Aramex Internatinal president, chief executive officer and ABC executive committee member Fadi Ghandour, Emaar Properties chairman and executive committee member Mohamed Alabbar, Mashreqbank chief executive officer Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Cordoba Initiative founder and chairman Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Middle East studies director Fouad Ajami, University of Basel working group on bribery chairman Mark Pieth and Arab American Institute founder and president James Zogby, among others.