Bahrain World Economic Summit convenes in Manama

Abu Ghazaleh: ?A New Geo-Economic order, and consequently a new political order, is in the making.?

Manama, Bahrain ? 1 November 2009 - H.E. Sheikh Ibrahim Bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, the Minister of Housing, Kingdom of Bahrain opened on 26 October 2009 the Bahrain World Economic Summit in Manama. The Summit was held under the official auspices of the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the Global Energy International Prize of Russian Federation. The two-day summit brought together a large number of delegates including ministers, ambassadors, government officials, economists and business leaders from around the world.

Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chair, Global Alliance for ICT and Development of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA-GAID), delivered a world address at the conference entitled "New Financial Structure of the World" on the global financial crisis, in which he outlined his view of the financial and economic crisis with a focus on the financial aspects. "While there were many, many reasons and contributing factors in the current crisis, imperfect global monetary policy is at the core as a catalyst and facilitating factor, and at the core of the monetary issues is the special role of the dollar as the world?s reserve currency.? He said
Mr. Abu Ghazaleh expected the world to utilize a basket of currencies; and also expected ?a New Geo-Economic order and consequently a new political order?. On the new financial order, Mr. Abu Ghazaleh pointed out that the world is passing through a transition that will lead on the long term to a new world with a new financial order.

He warned that the global recession/ depression will stay with us throughout the next decade; and confirmed that there will be no sustainable recovery without national regulatory economic and financial reforms. He called on states to watch for the real economy indicators, most importantly unemployment. He also warned from the risks of derivatives saying that ?derivatives are a dormant disaster (almost ½ quadrillion)?.

Mr. Abu Ghazaleh believes that ?oil prices will rise and stay above $100?, and that ?wealth is moving from west to east and from North to South?.

He called on the Arabs to learn the lessons of the crisis and make the best out of its adverse impacts, ??open and transparent markets are still a key driver of economic prosperity. Further liberalization is essential." He said
The summit addressed a wide range of topics related to the global financial crisis including, inter alia, the slowdown that overwhelmed the global economy, the nature of the new financial order in the aftermath of the crisis, globalization, Islamic Banking, the future of the gas and oil industry, and the global coordinated efforts to address the impacts of the crisis.