DESCRIPTION:

Geopolicity led the preparation of the Arab Stabilisation Plan (ASP) for private clients.  The ASP is a direct policy response to the jobs crisis sweeping the Middle East and North Africa. The objective of the ASP is to urgently create jobs, through private and public
flows, making growth more inclusive whilst minimising the risks of instability,contagion and radicalisation.

 

The White Paper shows that an injection of US$100 Billion over the next 5 years could create up to 11 million jobs, based on World Bank figures. Public financing utilized through the Trust Fund will be directly invested in infrastructure projects to stimulate private sector-led growth. Core sectors include energy, transport, housing, agriculture, communications and water and sanitation. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait would be the main investor countries and Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Yemen the main target countries. 

 

This expanded White Paper is a roadmap towards creation of an ‘ARAB STABILIZATION PLAN’ in direct response to the jobs crisis facing the Arab World. There are 14-15 million people unemployed across the Arab World, with pockets of youth unemployment reaching up to 60%. With the population of the Arab World set to increase from 355 million to 500 million by 2025, the jobs crisis is at a TIPPING POINT and affecting stability. The proposed ASP embraces four distinct Arab contexts: the Levant, Gulf, North
Africa, and Egypt. At stake is the fate of millions of people, as well as the fortunes of government regimes and major international interests - public as well as private. The ASP, partly inspired by the European Recovery Program (the so-called ‘Marshall Plan’), would not only lay the foundation for collaborative regional leadership, it would also address the jobs crisishead on: creating 3 to 11 million jobs over the next 5 years.

 

ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN:

Provided consultancy services for the development of the ASP White Paper, the design of ASP funding and governance modalities and the identification of a sample list of investment projects that meet the objectives of the ASP.  The ASp was presented at Davos and the World Economic Forum.

 

See http://www.arabplan.org/asp-reports/ for all written deliverables.

 

OUTCOME:

Shaped the entire dialogue on the MENA region for the period 2012-2015, providing the foundation for support to Egypt in the wake of the crisis there.  Referenced by regional and world leaders, including His Majesty King Abdullah III of Jordan. 

 

PROJECT DETAILS: