The Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Chambers, Dr. Khaled Hanafi, received at the Union's headquarters in Beirut "Adnan Kassar Edifice for the Arab Economy", the Ambassador of Morocco to Lebanon, Mhammed Grine, where they discussed ways to enhance the reality of Arab economies, based on the role played by businessmen, as the Union of Arab Chambers is the real representative of the Arab private sector.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Secretary General of the Union welcomed His Excellency the Moroccan Ambassador, and briefed him on the reality of the work of the General Secretariat of the Union of Arab Chambers. "Where the Union was established in 1951 and includes in its membership all Arab countries, and every two years a new president of the Union is elected according to the alphabetical sequence followed in the League of Arab States". Stating that “the role of the Union is not limited to strengthening economic, trade and investment relations between Arab countries, but rather goes beyond it to enhancing cooperation and economic relations with foreign countries through the Arab, foreign and joint chambers, as 16 Arab, foreign and joint Arab chambers work under the umbrella of the Union. These chambers play a prominent role, at the level of strengthening cooperation relations with the countries in which it is located, they also contribute and have contributed greatly since their establishment to raising the volume of trade and investment exchange in both Arab and foreign directions.”
He said: “We in the Union of Arab Chambers seek to make the reality of the Arab economy better, and we seek to strengthen the role of the private sector, which represents more than 75 percent of the GDP and employs more than 75 percent of the labor force. We have succeeded in many stations to enhance the reality of cooperation with the governments of Arab countries. This was clearly demonstrated by organizing and holding the Arab Economic, Developmental, and Social Summit in parallel with holding the periodic political summit of Arab leaders, kings, and presidents. In parallel with the summit, the Union of Arab Chambers holds the “Arab Private Sector Forum”, and in the last summit held in Beirut in 2019, the Union of Arab Chambers hosted the forum’s activities in the presence of the Prime Minister of Lebanon and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States. The forum and the summit issued very important decisions that contributed to the interest of our Arab economies, countries, and peoples.”
During the meeting, Dr. Khaled Hanafi noted, "Morocco is one of the influential countries within the Union of Arab Chambers. The Union, in cooperation with the University of Moroccan Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Handicrafts, organized during the past year two prominent conferences, the first on food security in the city of Marrakech and the second in the city of Dakhla entitled: Conference of Arab and African Chambers, which attracted massive Arab and African participation."
Hanafi stressed that "the Moroccan economy is one of the prominent Arab economies, as Morocco has succeeded in attracting investments by the most important foreign car companies to open their headquarters, and thanks to that, Morocco is today one of the most important countries in the automotive industry, which created jobs, raised the level of GDP and reduced the reality of unemployment, especially among young people. In addition, Morocco has a well-developed infrastructure, including airports, ports, and trains, and thanks to its strategic location; it constitutes a link and transit between Europe, Africa, and North and South America."
He explained that the Union of Arab Chambers is ready to host the activities organized by the Moroccan Embassy in Beirut as well as the activities of the embassies of Arab countries, "For example, a conference or activity on Morocco's vision to promote green hydrogen can be organized, in the presence of regional and international organizations, ambassadors of foreign countries and those interested in this regard, which sheds light on Morocco's pioneering experience in this field and thus contributes to helping to attract investments by countries and companies interested in this subject to invest in Morocco. The Union can also, through the conferences it organizes with foreign and joint chambers, especially the Arab-German Energy Conference, which is organized by the Union of Arab Chambers in partnership with the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, have Morocco be the guest of honor at the next conference so that Morocco will review its experience in this field. This opens the way more for Morocco to attract foreign companies, especially German companies, including “Siemens”, to enhance their investments in Morocco.
For his part, the Moroccan ambassador praised the great role played by the Union of Arab Chambers, stressing the keenness to enhance communication and cooperation in organizing joint activities that serve the interests of Arab countries, "where we put as the Moroccan embassy in Beirut all our capabilities at the disposal of the Union, and it is important to hold a periodic or annual meeting that includes the ambassadors of the Arab Group in the presence of Lebanese and Moroccan businessmen and investors from other Arab countries so that the advantages of the economies of the Arab countries are introduced in a way that contributes to attracting investments and enhancing the commercial reality between Arab countries, which applies positively to the reality of development in our Arab countries".
Ambassador Grine stressed that "the approach of businessmen is always different from the approach of politicians and decision-makers, as countries and governments frame relations, but those who do business and investment are businessmen and the private sector. Hence, the Arab countries must give more room to the private sector to participate in the implementation of strategic and vital projects, especially since the Arab private sector has succeeded in many stations to be the first contributor to promoting development."
Ambassador Grine concluded by saying that this meeting will certainly open the horizons to future cooperation which will be useful to the two parties, “We look forward to holding other meetings, and I will convey what was discussed to the ambassadors of the Arab group in Beirut, review the views with them, and discuss ideas that help develop Viewpoints between the Union and the ambassadors of Arab countries, which will help expand the horizons of Arab economic cooperation.”
Source (Union of Arab Chambers)
