MENA Conference Stresses Economic Potential of the Region

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The third economic conference of the Middle East and North Africa nations (MENA), cosponsored by the United States and Russia, with the support of Canada, the European Union, and Japan, was held in Cairo on November 12-14. The conference, whose theme was "building for the future: creating an investor-friendly environment," emphasized the importance of regional economic reform and global integration. It attracted more than 1,500 representatives from the international business community, as well as senior government officials. IMF First Deputy Managing Director Stanley Fischer also attended and addressed the conference (see page 3).

The Cairo conference, according to a declaration released on November 14, provided an opportunity for the MENA economies to encourage international and regional investment in the Middle East and North Africa. The conference highlighted the region's economic, commercial, and trade potential. In several MENA countries, this potential has recently been enhanced by important economic reform programs. These programs, which include privatization, structural reform, and trade liberalization, are helping create a business-friendly economic climate throughout the region.

At the same time, conferees discussed a broad agenda of reforms still needed in the MENA countries. These included an environment conducive to higher private investment, fiscal restructuring, monetary reform, and further trade liberalization.

No Country Is an Island

"There are no longer island economies, isolated blocs, and closed systems," said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in his opening address. "The principles of globalization govern the order of the planet," he continued, and those that would "join the global economy and share in its prosperity must abide by its rules." The laws and institutions of economic management that each country and region adopts, therefore, must conform to the "principles of global efficiency."

The process of integration into the global economy has already started in the Middle East, said Mubarak. Several countries in the region have opted for "sound economic and financial policies, flexible institutions, market-based management, and a vital role for the private sector in economic growth." Egypt, for example, is pursuing economic reform aimed at achieving sustained high economic growth. The three policy mainstays of its...