The President of the Union Arab Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mohamad Abdo Saeed had a speech at the opening of the Arab Economic Forum in Beirut where he said that "while some Arab countries are still in the process of change, many other Arab countries have made an important leap forward in terms of sustainable development through the adoption of a diversification policy, especially in the areas of high value added sectors, export sectors and sectors of the knowledge economy, in order to keep abreast of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” He added: “In fact, the important decisions issued by the Fourth Economic and Social Development Summit hosted by Beirut earlier this year, is considered a fertile ground for launching, as it opened the way again to draw the features of the new Arab economic map."
Mr. Abdo Saeed also pointed out that "the Arab world needs to boost the investment in human resources, particularly in the fields of health and the promising youth potential, in addition to supporting & strengthening the digital economy, which should contribute with more than $3 trillion to the Arab GDP growth. We should start the Implementation of the vision of the Arab digital economy, which was adopted at the Beirut summit and a fund was established worth 200 million dollars."
He also stressed that "the Arab governments must strengthen the role of the private sector to be the largest engine and operator of the Arab human capital, the Arab world must also change its economic approach and build Intra-Arab economic alliances in order to secure parallel development that may provide our peoples with a better life amidst the global conflicts."