The Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Chambers, Dr. Khaled Hanafi, discussed during his tour in the United States of America, where he visited Washington, D.C., and New York States, and met with a prominent number of American officials, mechanisms to enhance economic cooperation between Arabic countries and the United States.
The Secretary-General of the Union, Dr. Khaled Hanafi, visited the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Washington, where he met with senior officials in the ministry, and discussed the situation in the region, especially in light of the current circumstances. He also visited the headquarters of the US Department of Commerce, where he met with officials in the ministry, and exchanged visions, ideas, and opinions that would enhance trade cooperation between the Arab and American sides. The Secretary-General also visited the headquarters of "The Atlantic Council" in Washington, D.C., one of the world's most important and largest think tanks. The Secretary-General met with Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser.
The Secretary-General visited the United Nations headquarters in New York, where he met with a number of UN officials, during which they discussed the situation in the Arabic region, especially the ongoing war on Gaza, which has negatively affected the social and economic reality, led to the destruction of infrastructure, the displacement of thousands of citizens, the killing and wounding of tens of thousands in the Gaza Strip, as well as the paralysis of economic movement in the West Bank. Not to mention that many Arabic countries have been affected by this war, especially Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, where trade, investment, and tourism movement in these countries has declined, which requires the concerted efforts of all concerned parties in cooperation with the United Nations in order to stop this war.
Dr. Khaled Hanafi, Regional Director of the United States Agency for Trade and Development (USAID), met and discussed mechanisms to enhance cooperation and coordination between the Union and the Agency, especially in light of the role played by the Agency in the implementation of clean energy projects and its outstanding experience in this field. It was agreed to strengthen communication and coordination in the next phase so that the Arab world can benefit from the Agency's expertise in implementing clean energy projects in the Arabic region.
At the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., David Hammoud, President and CEO of the American National Arabic Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC), received Dr. Khaled Hanafi, Secretary General of the Union of Arab Chambers. During the meeting, they discussed the chamber’s work mechanisms and the role it plays in strengthening Arab-American economic relations, especially through the private sector on both sides, through activities that contributed to raising the volume of trade and investment cooperation.
During his visits and meetings, Dr. Khaled Hanafi expressed his aspiration for the pivotal role of the Arab and American private sector to contribute effectively to strengthening trade and investment relations, and exploiting the potential and opportunities available in a number of sectors, most notably the fields of technology, renewable energy, manufacturing and health care. In addition to expanding the horizons of cooperation in the financial and banking sector in a way that contributes to economic growth. He called on American investors and companies to take advantage of the distinguished economic and investment environment provided by many countries Arabic foreign investments and to establish strong partnership relations between business communities, in the interest of supporting national economies and serving the common interests of Arabic countries and the United States of America at all levels and various fields.
He pointed out that the challenges faced by the countries of the world and affected by them, starting with the disruptions of global supply chains, high shipping prices, shortage of goods, high global inflation, as well as climate change, push us to the need to plan in advance to address future emergency crises by unifying joint efforts and formulating alternative plans and measures that can be resorted to in the event of future negative repercussions, as happened in the Covid-19 crisis, as well as enhancing dialogue between all parties concerned with discussing these issues to avoid them in the future. He stressed the importance of concerted joint efforts of the global business communities to participate in accelerating inclusive and sustainable development to move towards a global development path characterized by flexibility and the ability to deal with changes.
The Secretary-General met with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to Washington, Sheikh Abdullah bin Rashid Al Khalifa, in the presence of the Head of the Investment and Technology Promotion Office (UNIDO-Bahrain), Dr. Hashim Hussein. Dr. Khaled Hanafi briefed the Kingdom's ambassador on the role played by the Union of Arab Chambers in its capacity as the representative of the Arab private sector, especially in terms of strengthening Arab economic, trade, and investment relations, in addition to expanding the horizons of Arab economic cooperation with foreign countries. Pointing to the close cooperation existing between the Union of Arab Chambers and the Investment Promotion Office “UNIDO - Bahrain”, represented by Dr. Hashem Hussein, especially in terms of enhancing the reality of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in the Arab world, as the “Arab Rally” competition was launched to support and encourage business incubators.
For his part, Sheikh Abdullah bin Rashid Al Khalifa praised the work of the Union of Arab Chambers and UNIDO-Bahrain, pointing out that the Kingdom of Bahrain is one of the most important supporters of entrepreneurs in the Arab world, and has achieved an important leap in this regard.
There was also a meeting between the Secretary-General of the Union and the Ambassador of the Arab League to the United States, Abdul Khaleq bin Rafi, in the presence of the President of the National Arab-American Chamber of Commerce, David Hammoud. The reality of the Chamber and the framework of its legal work were researched, as the Chamber desires to strengthen ties between the Arab countries and the United States of America through entrepreneurship, which helps improve relations and create a better understanding of the markets in question, which leads to increased business success between the Arab and American sides.
Source (Union of Arab Chambers)
