HE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer participates in Arab finance ministers’ meeting with World Bank President
Posted on: October 6th, 2009
Industry: FinanceGovernment
Country: United Arab Emirates
HE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, UAE Minister of State for Financial Affairs, participated in the yearly meeting of Arab finance ministers with Robert Zoellick, World Bank President, alongside the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, held in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 6-7, 2009.
This participation is in accordance with the UAE’s intent to strengthen financial ties with Arab and other states and promote cooperation among global financial and economic institutions, aimed at supporting investment and economic development. It also aligns with UAE’s objective to discuss issues related to the World Bank’s activities in the Arab region, especially in the area of proposed policies, programs and sustainable development, with the Bank President.
HE Al Tayer was also part of the preparatory meeting, which deliberated on regional economic and financial issues that Arab ministers proposed to discuss with the Bank. The attendees approved the final version of the common Arab speech. The speech that was read by the Syrian Minister of Finance on the behalf of all Arab finance ministers, touched on the effects of global financial crisis on developing countries, which witnessed a drop in prices of raw materials, leading to a slump in their exports. It also addressed the decline in remittances and capital flows, and falling growth rates and rising unemployment, in addition to growing difficulties in obtaining finance.
Commenting on the participation, HE Al Tayer, said, “We support the role of the World Bank, IMF and their reforms to achieve global financial stability, especially steps taken in light of the global financial crisis. These include the introduction of soft loans, measures to increase investments, adoption of sound policies and long-term programs to meet urgent needs of low and middle income countries. We welcome this meeting as it discusses various concerns of the Arab Economy and looks deeply into the needs of our region. It also promotes Arab economic partnership, which will benefit all participants.”
The meeting emphasized the need for advanced countries to continue their coordinated and urgent efforts towards implementing policies aimed at helping developing countries, which are witnessing a decline in capital flows, slow growth and rising poverty through encouraging domestic demand, restoring confidence in the financial system and addressing weaknesses in regulation of financial markets. This meant consistently addressing the issue of troubled assets, encouraging lending, funding and strengthening monitoring systems and financial regulations to ensure stability of financial markets and avoid recurrence of such crises. This in turn would contribute to the return of economic and trade activity of these developing countries and stimulating global economic growth.
The Arab ministers asked the World Bank Group for more support in various areas, especially with regard to supporting further reforms in Arab economies, improving investment and trade liberalization, creation of job opportunities for youth with potential, thus protecting the poor and most vulnerable segments of society from the crisis and economic slowdown.
In addition to loans, technical assistance and investments in the private sector, Arab states are looking for larger-scale activation for the Arab world initiative presented by the Chairman of the World Bank. Other requirements include setting clear targets, continuous follow-up and compliance with the Bank’s rules. The ministers also called for attention to Arab countries suffering from conflicts, particularly Palestine, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan, demanding more flexibility in dealing with these countries, rebuilding them and removing their burden of debt, so that stability in these countries will benefit the region and the world.
In his concluding remarks, HE Al Tayer said, “The global financial crisis proved the necessity of close cooperation between groups and global financial organizations to face challenges and achieve effective economic partnership, in light of the recession and economic slowdown the world experiences”.
