Faisal, Emir of Makkah and President of the Arab Thought Foundation, has said that the whole “Arab world is concerned with confronting the ramifications of the global financial crisis”. Speaking at the opening of the two-day 18th Arab Economic Forum here Thursday, Prince Khaled said that confronting the crisis would involve addressing “what we have to do as Arabs in terms of governmental modernization initiatives and economic management systems with the participation of the private sector”. He told the Forum that global financial reform was of “considerable importance”. “The Arab world is at the heart of the issue, with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia… having become a member of the G20 group tasked with studying global financial system issues and which held a meeting last month to look into the development and reform of international financial institutions and global safety networks,” Prince Khaled, who is the Guest of Honor at the Forum, said. The Arab world, he told the Forum, was “replete with opportunities, capabilities and energies”. “The delicate moment we are in requires deep thinking to manage opportunities for stability and confront the challenges and dangers in all the developments and changes occurring across the world, and I am sure that the discussion of the issue at this honorable Forum will produce valuable recommendations,” Prince Khaled said. The Saudi participation in the Forum, in addition to Prince Khaled, includes a group of prominent officials and economists as keynote speakers and guests, including Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Chairman of King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies; Mohammed Al-Jasser, Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA); Dr. Abdullah Al-Kuwaiz, a renowned economist; and Dr. Faisal Alaquil, Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Department of Architecture at Effat University, and Director of Business Development for Construction Products Holding Company (CPC). More than 600 participants from 25 countries are attending the Forum led by the Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou, Deputy Prime Minister of Kuwait for Economic Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa as well as some governors of central banks and officials of funding institutions and major Arab and foreign banking companies. The key topics to be covered include global economy in the post-crisis era; Future of the Middle East: Regional Cooperation or Conflict?
