DEAD SEA - Misdistribution of the fruits of development, coupled with high levels of unemployment, illiteracy and poverty caused the tension between governments and societies that led to the Arab Spring, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Ben Jassim Ben Jabr Al Thani said Saturday.
Addressing participants at the World Economic ForumÂ’s Special Meeting on Economic Growth and Job Creation in the Arab World, held on the shores of the Dead Sea, Sheikh Hamad underlined the importance of understanding the causes and motivations that triggered the recent developments in the Arab world and to consider their subsequent repercussions in order to address them.
“The aspirations towards social justice and human dignity sought by Arab peoples imply the provision of the basic prerequisites for the realisation of that objective,” he said at the event, attended by more than 1,000 participants from around 50 countries.
Despite the high economic growth rates achieved by many Arab states, several countries have not paid adequate attention to ensuring that this growth benefited all of their people in a sustainable manner.
“Growth was only benefiting certain group of society and was not translated into tangible gains that could be felt by all citizens… the unrest witnessed in the region, starting in Tunisia, reflects not only discontent over the lack of jobs, low wages and prevalence of poverty, but also a demand for review of the past few decades of economic policy in the region and the rights of citizens to choose the optimal economic systems for managing the development process,” the Qatari premier said.
He added that the Arab region has been facing challenges such as water scarcity, unsustainable consumption of natural resources and environmental degradation in addition to poverty, income inequality and brain drain.
According to Sheikh Hamad, economic development in the region has been mainly concentrated in tourism, real estate and oil, while mismanagement of economic liberalisation and privatisation have led to many workers losing their jobs.
“High rates of unemployment in the Arab world are basically due to the recruitment crisis, whether in the industrial or service sectors, as a result of the structural imbalances caused by the existing gap between labour supply and demand, driven by educational and training policies as well as low skills and declining productivity,” he said.
Low employment, according to the Qatari premier, can be attributed to the weak response of the private sector in recruiting domestic manpower, as well as fiscal contraction that has caused declines in public investment in many countries.
He called for stronger Arab economic cooperation in order to meet the aspirations of the people in the region, pointing to recent protest movements across the region as evidence that Arabs are capable of mobilising their local communities to support their causes.
“The Arab revolution will change the outlook of nations of the world towards the peoples of the Arab region. It is expected that a long-term partnership will be initiated between Arab countries and countries of the West, particularly the G-8,” said Sheikh Hamad, adding that the Arab markets, especially those of the North African countries, are among the most promising in the developing world, citing their abundance of oil, minerals and undeveloped land.
He also predicted a vast influx of investment in the North African countries due to their competitiveness in the tourism sector.
The Qatari premier said the challenge of translating economic growth in the Arab region into jobs can be addressed through two approaches: The first entails developing infrastructure and human capital while focusing on highly productive investments, especially in job-creating sectors such as tourism and agriculture.
The second approach, he said, involves cooperation among all Arab states to increase workforce productivity on a pan-Arab level.
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