KUWAIT, Jan 14 (KUNA) -- The Arab Economic Summit will be a launch pad for boosting partnership and investment among Arab states, and attracting Arab capital, said Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shimali on Wednesday.
Speaking at the inauguration of the meeting of Arab finance ministers, governors of central banks, and heads of monetary funds, he said the summit would work to raise coordination between Arab stats in terms of monitoring banking systems and in financial policies.
Moreover, he said the summit would work to boost the stability of oil markets and involve major states in the decision-making process related to restructuring the global financial order.
"I am confident that we all seek, through this meeting, to find ways to agree on a common vision for a draft resolution pertaining to this issue, in order to tackle repercussions of this crisis and its negative impact," he said.
Al-Shimali said that global economy was facing fast-paced changes that had cast their shadows on the economies of both developed and developing nations alike, adding that the economic crisis posed unprecedented challenges that required a consolidation of efforts at the international level.
He said that given the great dimensions of the global economic crisis and its complexity, many countries had began a quest for means to tackle the issue and to prevent it from expanding so that it would not negatively affect the economic sectors, namely the banking and investment sectors.
At the Arab level, he said that the grave nature of the situation prompted Arab economic and finance ministers to hold a meeting in December during which they discussed the issue and made it one of the major topics on the Arab Economic Summit's agenda.
He said that despite the varying impact that the crisis had had on Arab states, no country was immune to its impact, noting the drop in economic growth rates, oil prices and investment revenues
On his part, Arab League Assistant Secretary General for Economic Affairs Dr. Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri said today's meeting would seek to place a comprehensive methodology to help Arab states overcome the consequences of the global financial crisis.
He said this methodology would be referred to the Arab leaders, adding that Arab states had already taken a number of precautionary measures to protect their national economies and banking sectors, Al-Tuwaijri noted that individual efforts would not be enough, adding that what was needed now was coordination at the regional level in order to restructure economic polices and reduce the impact of the finance crisis.
He hoped the financial crisis would be a motivation for creating an international financial order that was more just and took into account the rights of developing states and responded to their growing role in global economy.
Meanwhile, President of the Arab Monetary Fund Dr. Jassem Al-Manaei said he fund would be proposing means to tackle the crisis and deal with its repercussions, as well as ways to develop the Arab payment system.
He said the global economic crisis required a clear Arab plan to counter its impact. (end) hq.amf.ema