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"Arab-European cooperation represents, in fact, far greater potential for the future because both EU and Arab countries represent two of the world's largest economic groups, given their geographical proximity, contribution to the Mediterranean Basin and historical and cultural relations," said Mohamed Abdo Saeed, President of the Union of Arab Chambers. Between Europe and many Arab countries, we achieve only a limited part of the enormous potential of this natural geographic, human and economic integration."
The speech was delivered at the opening of the 3rd EU-Arab World Summit “Shared Horizons”, held in Athens, by the Economist and Business Group, the Delphi Economic Forum, and in strategic partnership with the Global Contractors Union. The Summit was provided under the auspices of Prokopis Pavlopoulos, President of the Greek Republic and in presence of Alcís Tsebras, Greek Prime Minister, and the participation of a number of Heads of State and Government as well as Arab and European Ministers.
"Integration between Europe and the Arab World does not stop at the limits of trade, but must take the form of an integrated regional or continental partnership, that encourages Europe to partner with the region and helps it in building advanced economies and implementing ambitious projects that match with the technological and scientific revolution, the global economy and encourage competition. A fair and understanding European foreign policy should pave the way for a greater European role in building regional peace and strengthening Arab-European political and cultural ties."
"Our endeavor to attract investments and to partner with international companies is being challenged by the limited absorptive capacity of any domestic market, which necessitates opening our Arab markets in order to attract the investments of industrial countries that are heading towards several developing countries," he said.
He stated, "Many countries in the region are undergoing comprehensive transformations and reforms in various fields, and as a framework of the Arab private sector, we are pleased that the most important objective of the various reform programs is to transfer many of the sectors and facilities that are owned and managed by countries to the private sector. We look forward to the implementation of infrastructure projects and others in the form of partnership between the public and private sector, a formula that encourages domestic and foreign investment and achieves better service delivery and product quality."

Source (Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, edited)