By Sami Zaptia.
Amman, Jordan, 12 May 2014:
“A lot has happened in three years”, Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director said referring . . .[restrict]to the time that has passed since the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolutions.
Lagarde was speaking briefly at the end-of-day dinner on day one of the “Building the Future: Jobs, Growth and Fairness in the Arab World” conference that started yesterday in Amman Jordan for two days.
“We (the IMF) have extended (funding) programmes to the region, and we see a lot more economic stabilization”, and immediately qualifying her statement by saying that this may not be obvious with all the political instability in the region, especially in Syria.
Looking forward, the IMF head asked rhetorically “What is next? What jobs and innovation can be created locally?” Then answering her own question she added “Hopefully, with the gathering of all these policy-makers comparing notes and sharing experiences”, solutions can be found to move the region forward.
The conference is organized by the Government of Jordan, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the IMF. There are several Libyan participants at the conference, including the Central Bank of Libya Governor, Saddek Elkaber and a number of leading NGOs – including Libyan women’s NGO’s. [/restrict]
