JEDDAH – According to a recent IMF study, the Arab world must add 22,000 new jobs per day until 2020 and manufacturing is a key sector which can accelerate the growth and development needed to tackle this challenge. At a panel discussion earlier on the Middle East and North Africa's ( MENA) response to growth challenges, five experts from different regional and international economic institutions agreed that the Arab world has yet to transform its fast growing population and its common language into added values and improve the living standard for its mostly young population. Masoud Ahmed, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) director for the MENA region and Central Asia said that in 2011, Egypt saw 750,000 young people entering the labor market, but only 200,000 jobs were created, leaving more than half a million youngsters unemployed. “A young population striving for growth and change is a country's gift but it is also its burden,” said Ahmed. According to an IMF study, 75 million new jobs in the 22 Arab countries have to be created until 2020, which means 22,000 new jobs per day. However, the jobless rate among Arabs under 25, or 60 percent of the MENA population, is 26 percent, much higher than in most parts of the world. Ahmed added that while Egypt witnessed a pickup in tourist arrivals, current levels were still below the pre-revolution year 2010, “and this is not enough to create sufficient employment opportunities.” Against this backdrop, The MIT Arab Alumni Association (MIT AAA), with the lead sponsorship of Sadara Chemical Company and its parent companies, the Dow Chemical Company and Saudi Aramco, is convening world and regional industry leaders on Jan. 19-20, 2013 for the “7th MIT Pan-Arab Conference: Manufacturing for Jobs, Growth and Diversification” at the Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi to address the future of manufacturing and economic development in the Arab world. Talal Kheir, President of the MIT AAA, said: “The conference will focus on the future of manufacturing and its potential in meeting two of the Arab world's most pressing demands: job creation and economic diversification. The objective of the conference is to bring together leaders in technology, policy, industry, education and finance to discuss innovations and showcase solutions that have the potential to significantly impact today's global manufacturing challenges.” Topics addressed at the two-day conference will include institutional, regulatory, and macroeconomic issues pertaining to manufacturing; education, training and innovation in manufacturing and their impact on employment, entrepreneurship and investment opportunities; plus models for a globally competitive Arab manufacturing sector. — SG
