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| Egyptian Liberals Join Amman Conference on World Economic Crisis |
Senior members of the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL) met in Amman/Jordan in early April 2009 to discuss the world economic crisis, its impact on the Arab world and liberal solutions.
The two day event was the first ever NAL activity in the Hashemite Kingdom and attended by liberal political leaders from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine and host-country Jordan. The workshop was co-organized by the Jordanian Free Thought Forum (FTF) and co-sponsored by the Regional Office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) in Cairo.
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FNF’s Amira Hussein and Dr. Ronald Meinardus with Egyptian delegates in Amman |
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El Ghad Secretary General Alsayed Bassiouny |
In his key-note speech, Mohamed El Halayqa, former Minister of Planning and International Cooperation of Jordan drew a grim picture: "It is more than a crisis, the former vice prime minister said, "it is a catastrophe and all will suffer." El Halayqa predicted that the crisis would last for three years. Lebanese economist, Dr. Jad Chabaan gave a less pessimistic assessment and challenged the participants to see the crisis as an opportunity which would allow the Arab governments to rid their economies of "the dependency model" of either exporting oil or labour." I am looking at this crisis as something good", Dr. Chabaan said.
Political leaders from the liberal El Ghad Party and the Democratic Front Party (DFP) represented the Egyptian side at the workshop. Dr. Salwa Soliman, member of the Executive Board of DFP presented a paper on the economic situation in Egypt and the perspectives.
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Market failure: Yes or No?
At the centre of many discussions stood the role of the market in the crisis and in the future economic order. Delegates agreed that it was wrong to put all the blame on the market and would rather point to a failure of the regulatory system. Said Saed Karajah, President of the Jordanian Free Thought Forum: "In the Arab World, we cannot say that the market has failed, because we have not started with the market." Mr. Karajah concluded that "we should use the crisis as an opportunity to call for a full application of the market."
While in Amman, the NAL-leadership met for the first session of the Executive Committee in 2009. Led by NAL President Mohamed Tamaldou from Morocco, the committee discussed important internal and political issues. Among these were the final adoption of the internal bylaws and statutes and the appointment of Mrs. Margret Azer, Secretary General of the Egyptian Democratic Front Party as NAL-treasurer.
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