DEAD SEA, Jordan, 19 May 2007 — King Abdallah of Jordan yesterday opened a World Economic Forum (WEF) conference at the Dead Sea resort by urging Middle East states to seize 2007 as a “year of opportunity” for making peace that paves the ground for the creation of a marathon regional economic power.
“This is our year of opportunity. Opportunity to end violence, opportunity to make peace, opportunity to build the regional economic power- house of tomorrow,” the king said.
He pointed out that the Arab Peace Initiative that was readopted by Arab leaders at their summit in Riyadh at the end of March provided “an historic opportunity to achieve a just, comprehensive and lasting settlement...this year before any more generations suffer, before more destruction takes place.”
The blueprint offers to extend recognition to Israel by all Arab states after it pulls out from all Arab areas it occupied in the 1967 war, including East Jerusalem, and finding an “acceptable solution” for the problem of Palestinian refugees who deserted their homes upon Israel’s foundation in 1948.
The three-day meeting, held under the theme “Putting Diversity to Work,” is attended by about 1,500 high-level officials, politicians and business community leaders from 50 countries.
“For Palestinians, there can be no more delay. The absence of peace and the conditions of occupation have devastated Palestinian life,” King Abdallah said.
“Three of five (Palestinian) job seekers cannot find employment. Hundreds of thousands of families are living in misery, sustained only by humanitarian aid,” he added.
He contended that the conclusion of peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors would open the door for “great opportunities” in terms of regional economic development and mobilization of resources in the service of peoples in the region.
“The time has come to stop thinking about peace as an end, an end to conflict, but as a beginning of sweeping opportunities and benefits for the people of this region,” he said.
A post-peace stage “will be an era that frees human and financial resources for regionwide achievements and prosperity, an era that opens cross-border opportunities that multiply the benefits of development and investment,” he added.
According to a WEF statement, conferees “will examine the root causes of conflicts in the region and seek to find paths to greater peace and stability based on tolerance, moderation and renewed partnership.
Plenary sessions will cover a variety of topics including industries of the future, reaching for the new Middle East, Tourism competitiveness, the future of Islamic movements, means of addressing the Arab-Israeli conflict, Reconciling Islamic and Western cultures and Iran’s influence on the region. “The Palestinian people deserve a homeland and the right to live in peace.”
Representatives of the G-11 group of developing countries are also due to meet on the sidelines of the three-day WEF. The annual forum has adopted “putting diversity to work” as its main theme to spotlight “efforts to accelerate economic diversity ... (and) emphasizing the urgency of promoting peace,” organizers said.
Even as violence raged between Israel and Palestinians, executives from both sides set up a business council to revitalize their battered economies and contribute to elusive peace efforts.
The Israeli-Palestinian Business Council, launched by 10 businessmen from both sides, is aimed at helping “the region to move toward durable peace,” a WEF statement said.
The G-11, launched by King Abdallah last September, “can gradually build into a platform to promote free trade,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told reporters here.
“We need to promote, project and build on our reformist agenda,” he said of the grouping, which aims to reduce debt owed by member states, alleviate poverty and raise standards of living.
Aziz said yesterday that a military strike on Iran over its nuclear activities would be “catastrophic” and hoped US-Iranian talks this month would reduce tensions. “The use of force to solve this issue will have catastrophic implications for the whole Ummah (Muslim nations) and for the whole world,” Aziz said. “We are pleased to see that Iran will be engaging in a dialogue with the United States and we hope that leads to a reduction of tensions in the region,” said Aziz.
Turning to the G-11, Aziz said he hoped the grouping — Croatia, Ecuador, Georgia, Honduras, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Sri Lanka and El Salvador — could “gradually build into a platform to promote free trade.”
“The developing world needs today trade more than anything because trade is permanent. Trade creates an industrial base and jobs which will drive growth forward,” he said.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh warned yesterday that a US-led security plan for Baghdad was doomed to fail in the absence of true political unity in the country.
“The security plan has achieved some progress in some areas of Baghdad and is still being implemented, but the security problem will not be solved unless there is a political solution,” he told AFP in Jordan. “There must political cohesion and security is only a part of an overall solution,” he said on the sidelines of the WEF meeting.
Also the WESF said cimate change and energy security are among the greatest risks facing the Middle East, as a scarcity of natural resources disrupts the social fabric and Western states try to move away from hydrocarbons. The region is also vulnerable to any downturn in the booming Chinese economy, as well as geopolitical tensions relating to both the conflict in Iraq, and Iran’s nuclear program, the WEF said.
“The Middle East is a focal point for global risk and its mitigation,” the WEF said in its “Middle East at Risk” report. “This is particularly clear with geopolitical risk...but it is also true of two of the great intersecting global risks of the early 21st century — energy security and climate change,” it added.
In another development, Iran’s national security chief Ali Larijani yesterday denied Tehran was promoting the policy of wiping Israel “off the map,” blaming a deliberate distortion by the Western media.
“Let me tell you one thing about taking Israel off the map. It was a by-product of the Western media,” Larijani told participants at the WEF here.
“Our president never talked about this issue,” he said of comments attributed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, during a WEF session on steps to avoid fresh conflict in the Middle East.
Larijani’s remarks were in response to an appeal from Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat for the Islamic republic to abandon calls for Israel to be erased from the map.
“Talk about adding Palestine to the map and not canceling Israel,” Erakat proposed as he addressed Larijani, prompting applause from the other participants. “All the nations on earth today talk about a two-state solution. Be involved,” Erakat said.
— With input from agencies
