6th Gulf Studies and Arabian Peninsula Forum opens

The sixth Gulf Studies and Arabian Peninsula Forum, organised by the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS), opened in Doha yesterday.The current session will discuss, over two days, the issue of public policy-making in the Arab Gulf states, as well as “Gulf security in a changing environment.”In his opening speech, Dr Marwan Qablan, a researcher at the Arab Center and chairman of the Gulf Studies Forum and the Arabian Peninsula, stressed that thinking of the forum since its first edition focused on dealing with the affairs of the Arab Gulf region, including all issues without exception, political, social, economic, cultural, media and others.For his part, Abdulaziz bin Nasser al-Khalifa, chief executive officer, Qatar Development Bank, spoke about “the role of Qatar Development Bank in achieving the goals of national development policies in Qatar”, and its contribution to the strategy of economic diversification and private sector growth with a focus on small and medium-sized companies and entrepreneurship where he referred to the banks role in promoting a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, especially among Qatari employees, enhancing productivity levels, increasing the volume and contribution of non-hydrocarbon exports to GDP, increasing the private sectors contribution to the local economy, and strengthening Qatar’s position as a regional centre for priority sectors.He also spoke about challenges facing the Qatari private sector and the bank’s efforts to overcome them, including developing the economic environment and infrastructure, developing administrative and legislative frameworks, enhancing access to information and training, and enhancing access to appropriate financing.Al-Khalifa concluded his speech by talking about the banks hopeful goals in its plan 2018-2023 by multiplying the banks contribution to the GDP of Qatar, supporting self-sufficiency efforts and increasing value added across priority sectors in Qatar.The first session in the theme “Making public policies in the Arab Gulf states” discussed the policies of economic diversification and work in the Arab Gulf states, in which  Khaled al-Khater, a researcher in monetary policy and political economics, presented a paper on the challenges facing economic integration between the Arab Gulf countries. He said that despite the amendments that were received on the unified economic agreement of the states of the Co-operation Council in 2001 to promote the establishment of a customs union, a common Gulf market and a monetary union, several challenges emerged that were clearly reflected during the current Gulf crisis.  (QNA)