LOC09:59
06:59 GMT
KUWAIT, Jan 17 (KUNA) -- Bureaucracy is one of the main challenges facing the private sector in the Arab world, and can strongly limit its chances of participating in developmental projects, said an Arab economist on Saturday.
Raouf Abu Zaki, Director of the Economy and Business Group - the organizers of the Private Sector and Civil Society Forum, told KUNA that much hope hinged on the Arab Economic Summit as a means to find successful solutions to all challenges and boosting the role of the private sector in Arab development.
He said that the forum, held on the sidelines of the Arab Economic Summit, would see the participation of the private sector in such a summit for the first time.
The forum, which will kick off later today, underscored the important role that the private sector has to play in development, and would encourage the private sector's contributions.
Of the challenges facing the private sector in the Arab world, he said, were customs and taxes, as well as political and security issues that the region witnessed from time to time.
The recent global economic crisis has made investors cautious is foreign investments, and thus they have a solid understanding that it is safest to invest in one's own country. (end) kt KUNA 170959 Jan 09NNNN