HE Dr.Talal Abu Ghazaleh, the chairman and founder of Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org) is the deputy chairman of the UN Global Compact. Dubbed as the godfather of Arab accounting, he has also been credited for promoting the significance of Intellectual Property in the Arab region. The Commercial had a chat with Talal Abu Ghazaleh during his visit to Oman recently.

 

As the world discusses the march of oil price to 100$ and its impact on the world economy, her is an expert who talks about oil trade at 200$ mark in the near future. It is the prediction of Dr.Talal Abu Ghazaleh, the chairman and founder of Jordan-based international group Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization (TAGorg).

 

The era of cheap oil with no longer exist and prices will reach more than 100$.How ever, in case a new war breaks in the region, the prices will increase dramatically  to between US $ 200 and US $ 1.000 per barrel, says Talal Abu Ghazaleh.

 

 He said that in the beginning oil was given free, now it is cheap at 100 $ and will become reasonably priced at 200 $. Talal Abu Ghazaleh also wants this to be seen as a blessing rather than a cause of concern as it will create a sense of importance of the oil on the world nations who are using it without any limit. His observations came in light of the projections that oil demand will be almost double in the next five years than what is produced currently. He also referred to the decreasing graph of oil production in the major oil producing nations.

 

 Over the years, Abu Ghazaleh managed to establish close partnership with global organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and World Trade Organization (WTO).

 

  From his experience with intergovernmental organizations, Talal Abu Ghazaleh pointed out that the world is going through transitional era where a new trade system will replace the one that exists now. Transition is going to happen and we are going to the next world order. The existing world system is in its last days. It is a historic tact that no world order lasts long and there are co many examples for it, says Abu Ghazaleh.

 

 Every moment in the history is special, yet the surge in the oil price and the tremendous development in information technology are making it especially fast. Change at this special moment is to aggressive, which we have to think about, he continued.

 

 But Abu Ghazaleh didnt give direct mention on what will be that new world order or the status of organizations like United Nations and World Trade Organization (WTO) in the new era.

 

 According to Abu Ghazaleh, Arab region will witness economic revolution where a coalition will be formed among the region, China and India. In addition, a new free trade market will see the light. Such a coalition will parallel the power of the two biggest markets in the world, the United States and Europe markets, Abu Ghazaleh Stated.

 

 He said that the governments investment surpluses, mostly from the Arab region, will rise from four trillion dollars at present to more than 20 trillion within the next 15 years. That is in addition to the private sector surpluses, which will not be less than the said amount.

 

 The change in the oil price will create tremendous wealth in the region and it will change the economic map of the world. Arab world will act as a catalyst between Asia and Africa in bringing economic development. As the Arab regions economy booms, the market will extend up to china through India.

 

 He is of the opinion that the IP infrastructure of the gulf countries has improved tremendously in the last 30 years. Every Arab country now has a good legal system in line with the international standards. Now it has to concentrate on enactment and enforcement, he said. He added that the penalty provision for the violation of IP rights should be removed as it gives the space for the infringers to get free by paying the fine in matters where the benefit of the infringement will be very much high than the penalty amount.

 

 He added that GCC is an excellent experiment in regional co-operation especially in IP. The GCC patent and trademark office is a success story and it offers a single registration procedure for the whole GCC instead of filing in all the countries.

 

 Talal Abu Ghazaleh is currently serving as the deputy chairman of the UN Global Compact under the chairmanship of UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon. Global Compact is seen as an ideal vehicle for bridging the space between the United Nations and civil society on the one hand and the private sector on the other.

 

 The principles of Global Compact are noble. Excluding politics and security issues, the organization focuses on how to bring civil society and private sectors into UN and how to bring UN to the civil society and private sector in real spirit, says the deputy chairman.

He said that the aim of the organization was to motivate businesses to serve society and work towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals within the context of United Nations Charter Principles. The Global Compact is unique in that it is independent of United Nations but fully under the organizations dictates.

 

 Abu Ghazaleh said that he is currently working on a project meant to create an ISO standard on corporate responsibility which will dictate how much corporate are committed to society. He further said that he is personally responsible for creating the network of Global Compact in the Arab region and has already established offices in Cairo and Amman. Offices of the organization will be opened in Damascus, Morocco and Dubai in 2008.

 

 Talal Abu Ghazaleh has also announced that his organization TAGorg is opening the Regional Center for IT Training in Oman.

 There are also plans to start a similar centre in Oman for IP training in co-operation with World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for imparting education and training on IP in Arabic Language. He also predicted that Muscat is ideally suited to become the regional hub of IT and IP training.