Arab Strategy Forum calls for building skills base to meet present and future job market requirements

Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Arab Strategy Forum runs until December 6.

"The diversification drive is very crucial to development. What we need to do is to create jobs that are related to human capital. The challenge is to capitalise on diversification," said Sheikha Lubna bint Khaled Al Qassimi, UAE Minister of Economy and Co-Chair of ASF 2006.

"Diversification should focus on the services sector," Sheikha Lubna told some 800 delegates at the plenary session titled"Creating Opportunity from Change".

The plenary session featured speakers from the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Google CEO Eric Schmidt. All are Co-Chairs of ASF 2006. The session was moderated by Nic Gowing, well-known international news presenter from the UK.

Maha Al Ghunaim, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Kuwait-based Global Investment House, said that the main diversification challenge that Kuwait faces today is the development of the private sector.

"Its contribution to the gross domestic product of Kuwait is still minimal. The most real and the most important challenge is to open the market, and create rules and regulations to help allow the private sector to take on a more active role," she pointed out.

Speaking about the opportunities in Qatar, Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, said his country is on the threshold of a very rapid expansion.

"We have huge resources, but we have to prepare ourselves for the change, especially regarding the human resources aspect of it. We have to prepare our people and future leaders so as to be able to sustain development," Al Baker said.

Invited to speak by Gowing, H.H. Prince Faisal bin Salman Al Saud, Chairman of Saudi Research and Publishing Company, stressed that governance was a key issue in terms of dealing with change and the opportunities it presents.

"Governance can be defined as management of the affairs of the state and society. Over the last 10 years, the government, its agencies and the private sector have been adapting itself and moving towards management by objectivity, transparency and good governance.

"The mindset has begun to shift," Prince Faisal said.

Mohammed Al Mady, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), pointed out that education was the key to managing change.

"Without education you cannot do anything. We have inflation at 1.5% and population growth at 3% and economic diversification needs to take place. But we cannot do so without educated and skilled manpower. That takes time and hard work to develop.

"We must invest in human resources and not just in quantity, but in quality too. While we build assets we should also build human assets," said Al Mady adding that gathering and publishing of accurate and reliable data and research is another key factor for diversification.

In his address, Yousuf Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian Minister of Finance, said the main issue was not so much managing change since the Arab World has visionary leadership like the one in Dubai who have successfully managed and led change.

"What is more important is to change the mindset of the bureaucrats and the public. We have to venture into areas that support change," Boutros-Ghali said.

The internet is going to be the greatest enabler of change in the Arab World, said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google.

"Very smart human resources in the Arab World are going to go into the Internet and create new markets. They will push and push because that's what happens when the Internet arrives," said Schmidt.

He said the Arab World should use the Internet for education - both internally and externally. "There is an opportunity for the Arab culture, which is rich, to be seen outside the Arab World. The internet can be a force for understanding of society and political points of view," Schmidt said.