Meeting of the MENA Business Advisory Board - OECD

This meeting, which was attended by numerous representatives of both the public and private sectors and from various institutions and organisations in the region, was organised by the OECD, along with the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA) and the CEOE, both of which are co-chairs of the Business Advisory Council.

Discussions at the meeting focused on the role of business associations and their dialogue with the public sector to develop a response to the crisis and support growth, and the development of a roadmap to further strengthen economic integration and development in the MENA region.

Thus, the aim was to design inclusive approaches to improve and identify priority actions to exploit the business transformation opportunities. A series of sessions were therefore run around key matters such as challenges and opportunities for advancing economic resilience in the MENA region, accelerating digital transformation, facilitating job creation and entrepreneurship, fostering trade and investment, and promoting the green transition.

Thus, the opening session was attended by the co-chairs of the MENA-OECD Business Advisory Council, the President of CEOE International, Marta Blanco, and the Vice President of UTICA, Hichem Elloumi. Participants included, on behalf of the OECD, the Director of the Middle East and Africa Division and Executive Advisor of the Istanbul Centre, Carlos Conde, the Director of the Istanbul Centre, Achraf Bouali, and the Senior Advisor in the Middle East and Africa Division, Fianna Jurdant, as moderator.

During this conference, the Director of the Istanbul Centre, Achraf Bouali, opened the Meeting by highlighting the role of the new OECD Istanbul centre and its close collaboration with the work to be done by the MENA – OECD Business Advisory Council.

The President of CEOE International, Marta Blanco, provided an overview of the international context, as well as the current state of bilateral relations between the OECD and MENA countries. Moreover, he presented the OECD countries’ reflections and recommendations within the framework of Business at OECD (BIAC).

For his part, the Vice President of UTICA, Hichem Elloumi, referred to the current global context marked by the pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine and its consequences for the MENA Region. He also highlighted the challenges and opportunities arising from this situation and the private sector’s role in it.

Carlos Conde, the Director of the Middle East and Africa Division and Executive Adviser to the Istanbul Centre, then pointed out the complementarity of the work of the Business Advisory Council with the OECD agenda and gave a brief presentation of the sessions that are due to be held.

This was followed by the session on economic resilience in the MENA region, at which the keynote address was given by Fatma Marrakchi Charfi, the Director of the International Economic Integration Laboratory at the University of Tunis El Manar, who alluded to the context of uneven recovery and the fragilities to be faced after the crisis, as well as the prospects for oil exporters and importers due to the Russia-Ukraine war. This session was also attended by the Rector of Istanbul Topkapı University, Emre Alkin, who assessed the elements to ensure greater resilience of economies and the General Vice President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Companies (CGEM), Mehdi Tazi, who stressed the private sector’s role in economic resilience and the importance of exchanging experiences between countries, as well as the role of policies and digitalisation and the green transition as tools for an inclusive recovery.The session on digital transformation was followed by the Senior Programme Officer from the Centre for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), Babak Yektafar, who set out the background and role of CIPE and the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Empowerment, Usama El Saadawi, who highlighted the current challenges in the MENA region and the private sector’s role in improving infrastructure and fostering public-private dialogue.

The Spanish company AMADEUS also participated in this session in the person of its Senior Manager Industry Affairs, Eduardo Salido Cornejo, who explained AMADEUS’s in the field of R&D and digital innovation and the role of digitalisation in developing the MENA region. The last speaker on this panel was the President of Businesswomen of Egypt21, Yomna El Sheridy. She gave an overview of women’s digital empowerment, as well as the digitalisation of agriculture and its applications in agribusiness.

The first day of this meeting ended with two simultaneous working groups being held on job creation and entrepreneurship, on the one hand, and trade and investment, on the other. They were attended by, respectively, the President of MIDEL Lebanon, Fouad Zmokhol, and the Senior Advisor to the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), El Sayed Torky; and the President and CEO of Egytrans, Abir Leheta, and the Specialist in the International Affairs Department of Italy’s Confindustria, Giovanni Maresca.

These working groups discussed matters concerning the general context of unemployment, intrapreneurship, the forthcoming COP27 in Egypt, the results of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis and efforts at recovery, supply chains, long-term cooperation in priority sectors,enhancing global value chains, and cooperation between the two sides of the Mediterranean, among other issues.

The second day, 30 June, saw the session on the green transition. The debate at it featured the Policy Analyst of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, Marco Marchese, the Director General of the Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund, Rasmi Hamzeh, the Director General of the MENA Clean Energy Business Council, of the United Arab Emirates, Ahmed Samir Elbermbali and the Director of the Turkish Commercial Department of the Spanish company CAF, Jeni Gunes.

At this session, the Paris goals were explained, as were why greening requires the participation of the private sector and what it can contribute. On the other hand, the meeting set out the work of the Jordan Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund, the main challenges facing the MENA region in the field of renewable energy and the importance of regional cooperation and exchanges for the green transition, as well as the role of financial instruments in helping business associations to become greener. The MENA Clean Energy Business Council’s functions and projects to support the green transition were also reported, as were related matters such as energy efficiency and the energy landscape in the region, among others. Finally, CAF pointed out the sectors subject to investment for greening and stressed the importance of sustainable mobility, as well as the initiatives it is undertaking to achieve this aim.

Finally, the Meeting was closed by the co-chairs of the MENA-OECD Business Advisory Council, Marta Blanco and Hichem Elloumi, along with Carlos Conde.