Business and Investment After the Arab Spring: Potential Opportunity or Heightened Risk?

Roundtable on Business and Investment after the Arab Spring: Potential Opportunity or Heightened Risk?
Istanbul, 30 May 2012

TESEV Foreign Policy Programme organized a roundtable meeting with Dr. Bessma Momani on 30 May 2012, Wednesday. The two-hour meeting is chaired by TESEV Foreign Policy Programme Advisor Mensur Akgün. In light of recent events in the region the presentation focused on the precursors of the Arab Spring.

She started her presentation by pointing out that it is not a suprise what the Arab world is going through, since the region has a big, young and educated population who witness a severe income distribution. Besides democracy they were also looking for economic dignity. So what does this say to us? Historically the economic growth can happen when the age of population is between 24-60. A young and educated youth is an asset for the economy and not a liability. So if the governments make invesment and create jobs in labor intensive sectors such as communications, banking, tourism the Middle East economy will be rising in the next decade.

Dr. Momani is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo’s Balsillie School of International Affairs and a senior fellow at both the Brookings Institute and the Centre for International Governance and Innovation. Please click to find more information on the panel and Dr. Bessma Momani.