Sunday, Nov 08, 2009

Gulf News

Last week I contributed to discussions at the sixth edition of the Forum for the Future held in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh. My contribution, as a member of a delegation from the civil society of broader Middle East and North Africa, focused on a learning experience from the global financial crisis. I argued that sustained socio-economic development requires contributions from four sides, namely the public sector, private sector, legislative council and civil society. Referring to it as a square of development, I contended that all four sides have roles to play, as evidenced by reactions to the fallout of global financial crisis.

Undoubtedly, the public sector has a key role to play by virtue of being responsible for overall economic management. Former American President George W Bush made the right decision to press for Congressional approval of a $700 billion (Dh2.5 trillion) financial rescue package as a means of confronting consequences of the global financial crisis. Bush deserves credit for shouldering his responsibility of pumping money into the economy rather than adhering to the conservative beliefs of not intervening in the marketplace. The cost of inaction could be much higher.

A recently released report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) praises UAE authorities for undertaking initiatives to tackle the financial crisis through providing support for a $20 billion Dubai debt programme. Another welcome effort relates to pumping $19.2 billion to strengthen liquidity in the financial sector. Against this backdrop, the IMF projects economic growth rates in the UAE standing at per cent in 2010, rising further to 3.4 per cent in 2011 and still higher to 5 per cent in 2012.

At the same time, private sector investors have a role to play through assuming business initiatives and thus serve as a primary source of employment opportunities for new entrants in the job market. Many governments are increasingly opting for economic liberalisation measures such as outsourcing services to private sector investors for efficiency purposes.

Still, entrepreneurship culture needs to be entrenched in the region at large. In this context, I hailed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for uncovering an initiative to convene a summit on entrepreneurship in the US in 2010. Clinton made a keynote speech at the forum.

For their part, legislators must fulfill their crucial role by enacting laws dealing with matters such as access to information. The purpose of this kind of legislation is meant to ensure availability of information to all concerned parties with no preferences. Also, legislative bodies must ensure proper oversight of a country's macroeconomic management. It is widely believed that insufficient oversight contributed to the financial crisis, as were left to the law of supply and demand particularly in the US.

Yet, civil society entities have a role to play by reaching out to the neediest. In many respects, these concerns play traditional governmental of providing support to the most affected. Hence, authorities should not only remove restrictions on formation of civil society entities but rather encourage and facilitate their establishment.

Complementing roles

The argument goes that all four sides to development square have complementing roles to play. The public sector, private sector, elected representatives and civil society must fulfill their duties without attempting to eliminate any side.

The UAE as host of Forum of the Future in 2008 event together with Italy, current president of the G8, presided over the event in Marrakesh. Qatar hosts the seventh edition of the Forum for the Future in 2010 in partnership with Canada, incoming president of G8. Undoubtedly, it is pointless to guess political and economic matters surrounding next year's event in today's ever dynamic world.

The writer is a Member of Parliament in Bahrain.

Dr. Jasim Ali Dr Jasim Ali

© Gulf News 2009. All rights reserved.

 

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