THE DEAD
SEA, JORDAND -- Majid Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum and a member of the
Global Agenda Council on the Middle East and North Africa at the World Economic
Forum, has highlighted that the strategic infrastructure investment plays a
critical role in supporting much-needed growth and development in the region in
order to tackle the major challenge of youth unemployment.
Speaking alongside former British Prime Minster Gordon Brown and
the Vice Chairman of GE, John Rice, on the Plenary Panel entitled
"Infrastructure for Development" on the final day of the Forum’s MENA
Summit at the Dead Sea in Jordan, Jafar described the key drivers of strategic
investment into regional infrastructure, with a particular focus on power
generation, regulatory challenges, and the role and duty of the region’s
private sector companies in partnering with governments in solving the
infrastructure challenges of today, and creating the jobs and prosperity for
tomorrow: "The key regional social and economic challenges, especially
demand for jobs for young people, require new era of public-private partnership
in infrastructure to support the over $100 billion needed for investment and
maintenance each year in the MENA region."
With
youth unemployment rates rising in the region to 29.8% in 2015, Jafar stated
that for every $1bn invested in the region on infrastructure, over 110,000 jobs
could be created in the oil-importing countries, or 26,000 jobs in the GCC, or
49,000 jobs in developing oil exporting countries. Annual spending needs of
$106 billion includes $46 billion of new investment and $59 billion of
maintenance, and by meeting the investment needs, according to the World Bank,
the MENA region could generate 2.5 million additional jobs.
Seeing infrastructure development as essential to provide the
millions of jobs needed in a young and growing region, providing hope, stability
and livelihoods, and encouraging entrepreneurship, Majid Jafar stressed the gap
in such investments in the Middle East region compared to other developing
regions: "On average across the MENA Region, about 5 per cent of GDP is
allocated to infrastructure, whereas the proportion in China is three times
higher at 15 percent. Tackling energy subsidy reform in our region can free up
hundreds of billions of dollars for productive investment that will lead to
more jobs, higher standards of living, and stronger economic competitiveness
for our region’s future," Jafar added.
The Infrastructure Development plenary and the World Economic
Forum MENA 2015 Dead Sea Summit brings together over 1,000 leaders from
government, business and civil society, to evaluate solutions to some of the
defining regional issues, and the shared economic, social, environmental and
geostrategic goals which will require multi-stakeholder approaches. -end-
Image by www.zawya.com
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