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Sharjah / WAM
The World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which is taking place at the Dead Sea in Jordan from May 19-21 under the theme “Enabling a Generational Transformation,” brings together over 1,000 government, business and civil society leaders from more than 50 countries.
Participants also include 235 women leaders from across the Middle East and 100 founders of successful start-up companies, who are promoting entrepreneurship based on new technologies.
The opening ceremony was hosted by King Abdullah II of Jordan and featured speeches by King Felipe VI of Spain and President Fuad Masum of Iraq. As the co-chair of the Forum, Chief Executive Officer of Crescent Petroleum, Majid Jafar, addressed the plenary session on the opening day, titled “Towards Human Centric Growth,” on a panel which included Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon, Ghassan Hasbani, and Global Managing Partner of McKinsey,
Dominic Barton.
Jafar highlighted the fact that in recent years global financial crisis combined with rapidly evolving new technologies has changed the nature of economies around the world. In MENA region, this requires an evolution in education as well as training and development of workforce of new generation in order to make them competitive for jobs under the new economy.
“Our region has the highest average youth unemployment rate of any region in the world, and among the fastest growing population. The new generation needs adequate preparation for the jobs of the future. Studies show that simply increasing the education of the average worker by one year, can lead to a 10 percent growth in local GDP per capita in some countries.
“While we have witnessed improvement in education in many Arab countries, and in the GCC in particular, the system is struggling in some other countries. This is especially where a substantial portion of the population relies on public schooling or where good teachers have been lured away by better salaries and living standards. Ultimately, education systems across the MENA region must see more investment from the public and private sectors for the success of economies,” Jafar noted.
He also stressed the need to look beyond economic and business results to measure success and underlined the leading role of the UAE in developing new models for societal progress based on human development. This includes the minister roles for happiness and tolerance, as well as the emphasis on new and innovative technologies of the future.