Public-Private sector partnership needed to solve impending Arab world jobs crisis, says Albright

Addressing 'Leaders in Dubai' - the international leadership summit taking place at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai until Tuesday night - Albright said:

"Fifty percent of the people in the Middle East are below the age of 18 and the region has one of the fastest growing populations in the world. Given this, Arab economies will need to generate 100 million jobs over the next ten years. Government policies alone will not be the answer. For the necessary jobs to be created requires a private and public sector partnership with business playing the leading role."

Albright told the 'Leaders In Dubai' gathering of around 1,500 delegates that Arab economies need to focus on developing a work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit in order to thrive.

"The information revolution has the potential to create an enormous number of jobs but technology is not a substitute for leadership."

Albright said globalization needs to be embraced for all to benefit. "We know that globalization is relentless and its pace like that of a strong wind but to blame globalization for economic unfairness is no more useful than blaming the wind. It's the job of our leaders to shape the information consensus about how best to guide the forces of change. We can't continue with business as usual."

Spelling out the benefits of globalization, Albright, cited the growth in Jordanian-US trade since the signing of a free trade agreement between the two following the death of King Hussein in 1999.

"Since then Jordanian trade with the US has risen from US $14 million to almost US $1 billion and yet King Abdullah is right when he says more must be done," she said.

Albright said Dubai is an ideal venue for a debate on globalization. "There's no place quite like it," she said. "It combines a vibrant cultural identity while playing host to a body of multi-cultural citizens. It is an important venue for global dialogue - a Davos with sand instead of snow - an ideal place to talk about globalization - a subject much discussed, but little understood."

Describing herself as an optimist who worries a lot, the former Secretary of State admitted to being worried about the direction in which the world is heading.

She said worldwide assumptions need to be challenged. "On Iraq, for instance, we have to question whether US leaders made sufficient efforts to test their pre-war assumptions."

Albright said Saddam Hussain's departure from power was good for the Iraqi people and the region but she added: "it has come at an enormous price. We are now at a stage of reviewing some of those assumptions."

On the subject of Middle East peace, Albright said, "for the future to be something better than a mirror of the recent past, the opposers of terrorism must work together to defeat it. We need to live in the present and the future and not the past and it's plan that Dubai has a real commitment to the future but in many parts of the world, people seem unable to let go of the past.'

"There is nothing inevitable about war in the Middle East. We must escape from the paralysis of the past." Albright said she believes that Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian National Authority is "sincere" but she added, "the question is whether he has enough political backing to succeed."

Albright was among a stellar nine-strong speaker line-up for 'Leaders In Dubai' which continues on Tuesday, November 29th with addresses from Spencer Johnson, author of the best-selling 'Who Moved My Cheese?'; former Malaysian Premier Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohammed; branding guru Scott Bedbury and former South African President, F. W. De Klerk, who is widely credited with sowing the seeds for the break-up for the republic's former apartheid regime.