Keun Lee, Professor of Economics at the Seoul National University, was the keynote speaker in the first session of the ERF 24th Annual Conference. In his presentation, Prof. Lee focused on lessons from the Asian experience that could be useful for the MENA region for sustained growth.
According to Dr. Lee, the key ingredient of East Asian model has been to build the capability of private sector, by mobilizing resources and with the support of appropriate government interventions.
He continues stating that in the MENA region there is a strange equilibrium, which cannot be broken without outside shocks such as government policies. Specifically, this entails different types of industrial policies, with the effort to move to higher segments of global value chains. In order to do this, investment in human capital and innovations, amongst others, are required.
The Economic Research Forum’s 24th Annual Conference is held in Cairo, Egypt, on 8-10 July, 2018. The main theme of the plenary sessions is “The New Normal in the Global Economy: Challenges and Prospects for MENA”. The conference aims to draw on the lessons learned from the restructuring of the economic order across the region, particularly in light of the wide-ranging consequences of the decline in oil prices. With social turbulence and conflict persist in several MENA countries, the main goal is adequately reconciling short-term social and economic concerns with long-term growth and reform efforts. Visit the conference website to find out more about the event and access papers, videos and blogs.
