World Bank aiming at regional integration of 7 countries of the Levant

The World Bank organised in collaboration with the Levant Business Union a conference entitled “Over the horizon: a new Levant”.  The purpose of the event was to launch the WB new economic initiative for the New Levant aiming at integrating the economies of 7 countries of the region which possess significant but untapped resources namely Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Palestine, while studying the potential for economic growth once regional markets are opened and so are the market channels to Europe via Turkey.
The conference kicked off yesterday under the auspices of Prime Minister Salam represented by the Minister of Economy and Trade, Alain Hakim.  The event started with an address by the Secretary General of the Levant Business Union, Tony Ghorayeb, in which he shared the objectives of the conference which focused on economic complementarity amongst the countries of the region, reviewed capacities, challenges and untapped resources. Sibel Kulaksız who headed the team which drafted the report entitled: “Over the horizon: a New Levant” noted that Levant countries face a number of common challenges during a period of transition.  She added that these challenges included limited diversity of production and exports, poor regional and international integration in trade and investment and considerable unemployment amongst the youth.
For his part, the Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade, Alain Hakim, noted that despite the critical phase of political and internal instability that has prevailed during the past few years, particularly the economic pressures resulting from the influx of Syrian displaced, the average growth in the country reached 4.2 % between 2000 and 3013 compared to a global average of 2.7%.  According to the official, this is mainly due to the strong performance of the service sector and particularly financial services.  Hakim added that the economies of the Levant witnessed considerable progress in terms of growth during the past decade.  These positive developments included for instance the rise in exports, higher participation in regional trade agreements, the harmonization of trade and customs laws as well as the removal of obstacles to trade and investment.  Hakim emphasized the importance for Lebanon of continuing the negotiation to join the WTO in parallel to Arab regional integration.
Source: Al-Diyar, Al-Akhbar 13 June 2014