DUBAI, 21 December 2004 — Most participants in the Arab Strategy Forum held here last week believe that the Arab countries will be better off by the year 2020, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Young Arab Leaders(YAL) association.
The survey, which covered about a 1,000 speakers anddelegates at the forum, which was held under under the theme “The Arab World in 2020,” revealed that 55 percent of the respondents believed that the Arab world would be better off. Just below 20 percentbelieved it would be worse off, while just over 11 percent believed nothing will change. The rest did not have an opinion.
“This survey is of vital importance as it reflects the vision and policy of decision makers in the private and public sectors who believe in reformation plans tobe implemented in the Arab world, which in fact constituted the core of the Arab Strategy Forum discussions held recently,” said Mohammed Al-Gergawi, chief executive of Dubai Holding and chairman of the YAL Executive Committee.
“The survey was meticulously designed by YAL to be comprehensive, accurate and reliable as it included face to face interviews with the delegates who attended the forum,” said Gergawi.
The survey found that:
• 19 percent of the leaders, decision and policy makers who were in Dubai for the forum believed thattourism will lead the growth; 16% believed IT wouldlead the growth, 12% saw real estate,11% finance and 10 percent saw manufacturing as the lead setter. These, in turn, were followed in order by media and entertainment, healthcare, infrastructure, retail, transportation and agriculture.
• 48% of the respondents saw the private sector as the main engine of positive change; civil society got 23% of the vote, public sector 20% and foreign intervention 7%. More than 90% of the respondents believed that Arab youth can effect change.
Chances that Arab youth can compete globally by 2020 were thought to be moderate to very high. Respondents felt that lack of empowerment (36%) was the main concern of Arab youth. Political participation (22%), access to wealth (13%), access to technology (12%), a weak cultural identity (11%) and weakening family values (6%) were the other concerns.
The survey revealed that education (37%) is the most effective medium to improve the state of the Arab youth. Next came guidance and mentorship (21%), job training (17%), promoting positive models (16%) and producing research and data (9%). Young Arab Leaders is in the process of charting out an action plan for 2005 and the plan of activities will benefit substantially from the input gained by the association from the discussions at the Arab Strategy Forum.
