How do Arab Businesses Stack Up?
Back in April, The Daily Star of Lebanon reports on a meeting in Doha, Qatar of 150 top Arab Business leaders. This first-of- its-kind gathering was called to discuss the 2005 edition of the World Economic Forum's Arab World Competitiveness Roundtable. The report " provides profiles for 12 countries and analyzes specific impediments to effective reforms in the region."
"This report is a contribution to the debate on the policy requirements for implementing a new vision for the Arab world," notes Augusto Lopez-Claros, director of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Program.
"In centuries past, the Arab world was a thriving center of knowledge, learning and innovation. Its peoples long ago demonstrated their capacity for enlightened, creative engagement with the rest of the world, in ways that left an indelible mark on the course of civilization. A return to that golden age requires a clear comprehension of the problems and challenges which the region faces today, an acceptance of the need for change, and the formulation of viable paths of reform."
According to the Daily Star, the report:
explores the factors that have brought the Arab world to "a critical crossroads," including population growth and unemployment rates that are among the highest in the world, thus bringing into sharp relief the "urgent need for a reorientation of economic policies."
Outside the energy sector, the report notes, the Arab countries must urgently improve the overall quality of governance, significantly raise their levels of competitiveness, improve macroeconomic management, institute reforms to enhance the efficiency of public sector institutions and, facilitate the absorption of new technologies.
For all the talk of late about the need for political transformation in the Middle East, not enough of it addresses either the development of new or the reform of existing economic institutions in the region. This must chnage.. Reports like the aforementioned are the small but important first steps in a very long journey back to a prosperous future. So too is the widescale importing of foreign universities into the region, especially business, engineering, foreign service, and medical schools.
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