Unemployment, lack of democracy plague Arab world
LONDON: The Arab region is plagued by lack of job opportunities, knowledge and real notions of democracy, member of the UN high-level advisory committee Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah said in a speech late on Friday focusing on challenges facing Arab youth, which was held as part of the 14th Middle East business conference at a British university.
According to numbers from the World Bank, around 54 percent of youth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are unemployed, said Sheikh Mohammad, who added that three out of four women in the region were also unemployed. He stressed that Arab governments are now forced to create 100 million jobs till 2020 to counter the alarming unemployment numbers.
Sheikh Mohammad, Kuwait’s former foreign minister, called on Arab governments to support the public sector as part of the solution to the problem, adding that the educational system in the region should also be overhauled to develop youth skills and include them in the process of decision making and reforms. Utilizing recent technologies provided by the Internet and social media, Arab youth between the ages of 15-29 could make a difference in terms of developing their nations, said Sheikh Mohammad, noting that Kuwait since 2009 had launched a one billion dollar fund to support small and medium size enterprises, a launchpad for youth to follow their aspirations.
He also indicated that his country, through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), had provided loans worth $15 billion to some 100 countries to help them develop their projects. Sheikh Mohammad also noted that Kuwait played a crucial part in easing the suffering of refugees, indicating that three donor conferences were held in Kuwait to aid Syrian refugees with $1.8 billion pledged. Kuwait will also co-organize the fourth conference to be held in London in Feb 2016, he added.—