I

 recently had the pleasure of being invited to participate in the conference organised by the Arab-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CASCI) in Geneva on the question of how to maximise the benefits the Arab private sector can derive from Geneva-based international economic organisations.

The choice of the theme of the conference was both important and timely for a number of reasons.

First, Geneva hosts some of the most important international organisations covering economic, trade, and development matters in the world today, such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Trade Centre (ITC), and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Second, the conference focused in particular on how the Arab private sector can benefit from the work of these organisations. This objective covered three levels related to the Arab private sector: its presence across the Arab world; its presence in each Arab country; and its presence in specific sectors of economic activities.

In this respect, the conference underlined the important role that both Arab governments and intergovernmental regional and subregional Arab organisations, such as the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), can play in supporting the Arab private sector to realise optimal benefits from the international economic and trade organisations based in Geneva.

Third, the conference was convened at a time when more than ever before the Arab countries are encouraging the development of the role of the private sector in their national economies. This reality is reflected in the growing role of the Arab private sector at three levels: an increase in its share in the local labour market; its rising contribution to the GDP of the Arab countries; and its similar rising share in the exports of the Arab countries.

Fourth, the conference succeeded in involving participants representing the three parties that are indispensable to the theme and objective of the conference. These included representatives of the Arab governments and the Arab League, representatives of the Geneva-based international economic and trade organisations, and representatives of the Arab private sector.

The conference adopted a practical approach through identifying specific areas where the Arab private sector can benefit from the Geneva-based international economic organisations.

The first area highlighted the importance of prior consultation and continued coordination between Arab governments and the Arab private sector, both within each country and at the pan-Arab level, regarding the preparation for and the follow up of any negotiating processes taking place in any of the international economic organisations with a view to reaching international agreements. Specific legal commitments could emerge from these that would need to be undertaken by the countries signing or joining the agreements.

This area is of paramount importance as the Arab private sector would have a share in assuming the responsibility of implementing the commitments that Arab governments would undertake by signing or joining these agreements.

The above applies in both directions, meaning that whether joining such agreements would bring benefits to the country concerned or would constitute a burden for it, the private sector would have to be a partner with the government in both cases. Therefore, it is necessary that the process of consultation and coordination between Arab governments and the Arab private sector takes place frequently throughout the negotiating process of economic and trade-related agreements.

This consultation should continue after the finalisation of such agreements in order to address the question of whether it is in the interest of the country concerned to join that agreement or not and, in case a decision is taken by the government to join it, the question to be addressed would then be how to maximise gains and minimise losses arising from the implementation of such an agreement.

The second area of action identified by the conference was human resources development, primarily through training. This area has two components. The first is the need of the Arab business community for relevant training in order to become better acquainted with the discourse and terminology used in and by the international economic and trade organisations such that it can better follow their work. The other is the extent to which the Arab private sector can contribute to funding the training programmes needed by the diplomats, technocrats, and bureaucrats who represent their countries in the negotiating processes in international economic and trade forums.

As the private sector has a stake in ensuring that any international agreements joined by its government does not add unaffordable burdens, it has an interest in ensuring the provision of the best training available to civil servants.

As for the third area that the conference identified as being a role that the Arab governments and the Arab private sector could play, this concerned how to ensure that the Arab private sector benefits from the huge amount of literature produced by the Geneva-based international economic and trade organisations, including important studies and reports.

There is a need for the Arab countries, both governments and private sector, to have a significant input through comments and replies to such studies and reports, so as to reflect shared Arab interests as well as the interests of each Arab country. In order to perform such a function, there is a need for specialists that combine the required technical knowledge and expertise with a mastery of foreign languages.

There is also a role to be played by the Arab countries in UN agencies, such as UNCTAD and the ITC, in order to ensure that all studies and reports are published in the UN’s six official languages, including Arabic, such that they reach the broadest constituency possible in the Arab world.

This area for action brings us back to the need for consultation and coordination between the Arab governments and the Arab private sector in order to ensure the timely, pertinent, and substantive nature of the comments and replies made by the Arab countries to these studies and reports, so as to defend their national interests and to make them correspond to the needs and requirements of the countries concerned.

This should be done while at the same time ensuring the objectivity of these studies and reports, as they come out of international organisations and should reflect the common interests of the international community while taking into account the specific needs of the developing and least developed countries (LDCs), including the Arab countries.

The latter are of course also divided into three main categories – the oil-rich countries, the middle-income developing countries, and the LDCs, with each category having a specific set of needs and priorities.

The conference organised recently by the Arab-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Geneva succeeded in tackling important issues that come under one title, namely how the Arab governments, the Arab private sector, and Arab regional and sub-regional organisations can work together to optimise the gains the Arab private sector can reap from the work of Geneva-based international economic and trade organisations.

 

The writer is a diplomat and commentator.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 3 October, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly