A press conference was held at the headquarters of the League of Arab States, yesterday, Monday 1/22/2024, attended by the Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Chambers, Dr. Khaled Hanafi, Dr. Hashem Hussein, and the Head of the Investment and Technology Promotion Office of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) - Kingdom of Bahrain, Dr. Hashem Hussein, and Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ambassador Rashid Al-Khattabi, and the Director General of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, Professor Ibrahim Adam Al-Dakhiri. It was announced that the organization of the fifth edition of the International Entrepreneurship Forum WEIF for the year 2024 - will be held on the sidelines of the Arab Summit at the leadership level scheduled to be held in the Kingdom of Bahrain during May. This is in partnership between the Union of Arab Chambers and the Investment and Technology Promotion Office - United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO - Bahrain).
The Secretary-General of the Union, Dr. Khaled Hanafi, spoke during the press conference, noting the importance of holding the forum, “as the International Entrepreneurship Forum 2024 aims to achieve sustainable development goals by promoting innovation and economic growth for entrepreneurs, which contributes directly to achieving economic and social development for them.”
The forum will include several topics, the most important of which are (1) mechanisms for Arab-African economic integration through entrepreneurship (2) sustainable financial inclusion (3) the renewable green and blue economy (4) the creative orange economy (5) The appropriate environment for entrepreneurship and innovation (6) Artificial intelligence and digital transformation (7) The role of universities, educational centers, and research centers (8) The economic empowerment of people with disabilities and the Independent Living Initiative (9) In addition to the Arab-African Summit for Entrepreneurship and Investment.
Dr. Khaled Hanafi noted that “the forum enjoys the support of a number of partners in the field of micro, small and medium enterprise development, entrepreneurship and innovation, most notably the International Federation for Social Responsibility, the “Shenzhen - China” Federation for Promoting Youth Entrepreneurship, the International Network for Small and Medium Enterprises, and the International Network for Women Entrepreneurs.” The Creative Business Network, the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum, the Women's Development Organization, and the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In addition to a large number of stakeholders, such as ministries, governmental organizations, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, development financial institutions, regional and international organizations, commercial banks, universities, small and medium-sized enterprise support institutions, research centers, think tanks, incubators, accelerators, chambers of commerce and industry, and others.”
The Secretary-General, Dr. Khaled Hanafi noted that, as a follow-up to the success achieved by the “Living Independently” initiative, and in order to intensify work to achieve economic empowerment for people with disabilities, dialogue sessions will be held during the forum to complete the development of practical programs that contribute to the advancement of people with disabilities in Arab countries. During the conference, an exhibition of modern technology for people with disabilities will be organized, in addition to an exhibition of the projects that qualified in the second edition of the “Living Independently” competition. The second session of the Productive Families Forum will also be organized during the forum. This is within the framework of the economic and social empowerment of productive families. The forum seeks to identify the optimal mechanisms to help them transition from the informal style to the formal style through entrepreneurship programs “The distinguished productive families are highly skilled in craftsmanship and simple products, as these families have exploited all available resources from their surrounding environment and transformed them into innovative products that suit the tastes and needs of consumers.”
Source (Union of Arab Chambers)
