Dubai: The Deauville Partnership with Arab Countries in Transition will help open economies, open governments and open societies to support free trade and encourage greater accountability ad transparency, regional experts said at a conference hosted by Rotary Club of Dubai to assess the outcome of the Group of Eight (G8) nations Summit 2013 held recently in Northern Ireland.
“UK, which holds the Presidency of the G8 for 2013 and takes a lead role in the Deauville Partnership, is supporting the Transition countries – Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, Morocco and Yemen — to build more of the open economies and inclusive societies their citizens aspire to,” said Rosemary Davis, official spokesperson of UK Government in the Arab World.
The Deauville Partnership, which is formed in the aftermath of the Arab Spring by the 2011 French G8 Presidency, includes G8 members, the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), regional partners comprising the governments of the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and international financial institutions.
According to Davis, G8 alone represent half of the world’s GDP and the UK plans to focus on 3Ts — trade, transparency and tax — this year.
The partnership will bring countries and international financial institutions together to help trigger opportunities for trade and investment, support the development of small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and improve economic opportunity for women and young people in Arab countries.
She said the UK government is looking forward to working closely with all members of the partnership this year to help Deauville transition countries take practical steps which deliver real, tangible benefits to meet the historic challenges.
According to Jessica Irvine, Department for International Development representative in the Gulf States at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi, UK will encourage an increased role for the private sector and increasing opportunities available to youth and women.
“The SME mentoring scheme, which is to be implemented, will match at least 250 entrepreneurs from transition countries with mentors from leading companies from across the Deauville Partnership for the purpose of sharing skills,” said Irvine.
The scheme will give “tangible and practical support for SMEs in the region, which will also help in expanding businesses and potentially creating new jobs,” she said.
The G8 and regional partners continue to pledge money to the Transition Fund, a pooled resource from which transition countries can bid for grants to support highly-targeted reform projects.
In February, Irvine said that the Fund approved projects totalling $41 million. These projects will help bring about vital reforms in the Arab countries. The Fund responds quickly to the needs of the transition countries, helping to deliver practical benefits to citizen’s lives.
The Summit has identified eight priority areas — trade, women’s economic participation, investment, capital markets access, SMEs, asset recovery, European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Expansion and Transition Fund – which together will help build open economies and inclusive growth.
“The expansion of EBRD will allow investment of up to 2.5 billion euros per year in regional private sector development,” said Irvine.
