The Arab private sector is hoping to achieve the unity that political leaders have failed to attain in 50 years, Niveen Wahish reports Emaar Chairman Mohamed Alabbar, of the Saudi Zamil Group, Chairman of Al-Futtaim Group Hussein Al-Shobakshi and Orascom Telecom Holding Chairman Naguib Sawiris are just four of the 30 leading regional businessmen who were in Cairo this week to take part in the launch of the Arab Business Initiative (ABI). Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid said the initiative will represent a voice that will make itself heard to Arab leaders. These businessmen will address leaders at the second Arab Economic and Social Summit scheduled to be held in Sharm El-Sheikh on 19 January. Their voice will assert the visions, needs and proposals of Arab private sector companies working at a regional level. "Influencing policies takes time but this is an important start. This is a golden opportunity for the private sector to take part in decision-making," said Alabbar. On a similar note, Chairman of EFG-Hermes Holding Yasser El-Mallawany pointed out that this is the first time that the private sector is supported by politicians to deliver its voice to Arab leaders. The creation of ABI was instigated by Rachid in the hope of creating a realistic and practical vision to advance Arab economic cooperation through increased inter-Arab trade and support to common Arab investments. He noted that all the organisations and mechanisms of Arab economic action in the past 50 years have failed to activate Arab economic cooperation or turn the Arab common market dream into reality. ABI brings together chief executive officers and businessmen from the Gulf states, the Maghreb, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. Participating businessmen own investments in the Arab region estimated at more than $500 billion. A permanent structure for ABI is in the making. "The private sector is a major engine for growth and job creation. It needed a forum to present its ideas," Al-Zamil told journalists. ABI aims to hold regular meetings to establish mechanisms to follow up on the implementation of summit decisions. It will work closely with Arab federations. "Inter-Arab investments stood at $2 billion a decade ago. Since then that figure has grown more than 10 times," Rachid told a room packed with journalists this week. "These companies have succeeded in crossing borders and outperforming governments as far as Arab cooperation is concerned." Rachid added that most Arab countries have by now opened up and are promoting a free economy that has facilitated the work of these companies. "There are similar global institutions that have worked," Rachid said. A press release said the new group is modelled on the European Chief Executives Council. "We all realise the difficulties of Arab cooperation but for businessmen it is easier because it is a matter of economics." The initiative is part of a broader effort to try and translate into action the more than 50 years of unfruitful discussion on Arab economic integration. Inter-Arab trade does not exceed 12 per cent of total Arab trade. It reaches 63 per cent in the EU, 39 per cent between countries of the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) and 25 per cent among countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ABI hopes to build on what was started at the first Arab Economic Summit held in Kuwait in 2009. The Kuwait summit had pinpointed specific areas that need work. These include a customs union, road and transportation connectivity, services liberalisation, open skies and free movement for individuals and goods. The World Bank is another institution that plans to support the realisation of greater Arab economic cooperation. This week World Bank Managing Director Mahmoud Mohieldin was in Cairo to coordinate what the bank can do in preparation for the Sharm El-Sheikh summit. Through its Arab World Initiative (AWI), Mohieldin told journalists this week, the bank is ready to finance projects which include more than one country. That financing, Mohieldin said, would be over and above any projects it is financing on the individual country level. According to Mohieldin, the bank is ready to support the Arab world's development priorities as set by the summit, especially in the area of human development, infrastructure investments and job creation through small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These are also areas where action has been taken on the ground. As far as SMEs are concerned a $2 billion fund set up by the Kuwait summit already has $1.3 billion at its disposal. Several joint infrastructure projects are also underway. These include the electricity grid between Syrian, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. Another grid is about to be initiated between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
