His Excellency Eng. Abdenbi Manar, Director General of the Arab Civil Aviation Organization, participated on Thursday, 4 February 2020, in the works of the 107th session of the Economic and Social Council at the level of the Ministers of Finance, Economy and Trade of the Arab countries and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Within the framework of the precautionary measures imposed by the "emerging" Corona virus, Covid-19, the meeting was held via telecommunication, and draft decisions issued by the recommendations of the meeting of senior officials and the social and economic committees were approved.
The Minister of Economy and Trade caretaker of the government of the Republic of Lebanon and actual president of the current session of the Economic and Social Council, Raul Nehme, chaired the meeting. In his opening speech, H.E. stated the importance of activating Arab integration and interdependence, especially on common paths of importance to Arab countries, including, Economic unity and regional cooperation to face the negative consequences of this pandemic as a basic requirement that simulates Arab history of solidarity in the face of crises. His Excellency also called for cooperation to maintain citizen’s food security through the sustainability of regional production chains, and enhancing intra-trade, with an emphasis on the priority of removing trade obstacles facing the Arab region in order to enable the treatment of the basic economic problems resulting from these obstacles, in addition to the importance of enhancing trade exchanges.
His Excellency also highlighted, the importance of technological progress, at the development level, in addressing the results of this pandemic, and experience has proven that the key to progress and communication lies in digital transformation of government departments and building an effective digital economy. We commend here the Arab efforts in this regard, especially the launch of the initiative and in particular, the digital university "which aims to support emerging economies in the Middle East and North and West African countries, by training staff both technically and cognitively,". Likewise, the initiatives emanating from the "Arab Vision for the Digital Economy 2018" turned out to be one of the strategic enablers to support economic and social growth, especially after the massive economic and social effects of growing unemployment rates, with the expansion of border closures in many countries. This reflects negatively on all layers of Society and pushes middle classes and marginalized groups towards tensions that lead to instability.
His Excellency also pointed out that "this meeting confirms the necessity of unifying visions and strengthening cooperation and coordination at all levels to achieve this integration. This central goal is what we must strive to achieve through all the meetings that result in the preparation of many draft decisions that are no less important than the decisions presented and ratified in the previous sessions of the Economic and Social Council, which require follow-up and implementation.”
In his speech, His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, referred to the continuing economic and social impacts of the emerging corona virus pandemic, which calls for member states to adopt medium and long-term plans and strategies to deal with it. Arab countries need to review their development plans to keep pace with this new reality and enhance their capacity to adapt to and anticipate crises, especially in the fields of health and education.
His Excellency also stressed the importance of Arab solidarity and aid to support countries facing more difficult situations, such as Palestine, Yemen and Lebanon, and called for modernizing mechanisms for collective response to crises and exchange of information in the field of health, as well as strengthening early warning mechanisms.
This session introduced the study of several topics, foremost of which is the economic and social file of the Arab League Council for the next summit, support for the Palestinian economy, and a number of issues related to the joint Arab economic and social affairs discussed during the meeting and which aims at promoting and developing joint Arab action among Arab countries within the framework of the League of Arab States. It also aims at reaching consensus on a number of economic and social decisions projects that will be included in the economic and social file of the League of Arab States Council on repositioning legal paths of a number of joint Arab action institutions within the framework of the League.
The reports and decisions of ministerial councils and specialized Arab committees were also studied, and the report and recommendations of the extraordinary meeting of the Organizations Committee for Coordination and Follow-up emanating from the Economic and Social Council were approved, especially the item of plans and budgets of specialized Arab organizations for the fiscal year 2021.