PRESS CONFERENCE BY WESTERN ASIA ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION

PRESS CONFERENCE BY WESTERN ASIA ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION

The first issue of the “Annual Review of Developments in Globalization and Regional Integration in the countries of the ESCWA Region 2002”, a flagship publication of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), was launched at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

Houssam Asaad Diab, Chargé d’affaires of the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the United Nations, whose country currently chairs the Commission, said there was no doubt that the publication would assist member countries in using the opportunities provided by globalization.

A summary of the Review was released to the press, while the full text will be published in a month.  A similar launching ceremony was taking place simultaneously in Beirut, the headquarters of the organization.

Using slides, Mr. Diab said the Review focused on the impact of globalization on countries of the region and undertook a detailed study of regional cooperation and partnership in the Arab region.  It monitored the extent of progress at the sectoral level towards strengthening regional economic integration in the ESCWA area and the Arab world.

Efforts of ECSWA member States and countries in the Arab world in the field of integration and globalization had fallen short of aspirations, Mr. Diab said. Statistical indicators showed that the share of Arab countries in international trade remained low.  In the year 2000, total Arab exports and imports amounted to some 3.1 per cent and 1.4, respectively, of the world figures.  In general, Arab countries captured only 2.6 per cent of world trade.

The share of Arab countries receiving foreign direct investment fell from an average of 1.3 per cent during the early 1990s to 0.2 per cent in 2000.  It increased slightly to 0.8 per cent in 2001.  Telecommunications services in the Arab countries saw an upsurge in the number of fixed telephone lines, from

11 million in 1995 to some 21 million in 2001 -– an increase of 91 per cent, and also equivalent to 2 per cent of all such lines in the world.  Furthermore, the number of subscribers to mobile telephone services in the Arab world rose markedly between 1995 and 2001, from 0.5 million to 16 million.

With respect to the Internet and information technology, the Review showed that in 2001 there were some 5 million personal computers in Arab world countries, representing 1 per cent of the world total. On tourism, World Tourism Organization figures indicated that in 2001 some 33.2 million tourists visited Arab countries, a slight increase.  Mr. Diab said it was a positive sign, given the decrease in worldwide tourism in 2000 and 2001.

Mr. Diab also touched on factors that hindered intra-Arab trade as covered in the Review.  He noted that one of the main factors was that the demand for oil and gas, which accounted for a lion’s share of the region’s exports, stemmed mainly from non-Arab countries.  In addition, the products of many Arab countries were of low quality and unable to compete in international markets.  Consequently,

imports came mainly from outside the region.  Arab countries also had similar production structures.  Another factor was that the rules of origin of goods were loosely defined, he said.

Among its recommendations, the publication urges ESCWA member States, and the Arab countries in general, to take action to enable them maximize the benefits of globalization and reduce its adverse effects.  Specific policies recommended included the removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers among Arab countries; liberalization of trade in services; and the establishment of a regional compensation fund for those States that might incur losses during the initial stages of trade liberalization and regional integration.

In a question-and-answer session, Nazem Abdallah, Senior Economist of ESCWA, said some of the region’s oil producers had agreements to provide their poor neighbours with crude oil at subsidized prices.  He said such an agreement existed between Iraq and Jordan.

He told a correspondent that tourism from outside the region to Arab countries, particularly Egypt and Jordan, declined considerably after the

11 September 2001 events in the United States.  However, there was an increase in intra-Arab tourism, he said.  Tourists from the Gulf countries, who previously used to go to Western Europe, had opted during 2002 to visit other countries in the region, like Lebanon.  He said Lebanon enjoyed a boom in its tourist industry because many western tourists, particularly those of Lebanese or Arab descent, went there.

Mr. Abdallah said efforts were being made to diversify exports from the Arab region.  There was an increase in non-oil exports, which would have been far greater had there not been the 11 September attacks.

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