Mrs. Nadia Fattah, Minister of Economy and Finance, headed a delegation of the Ministry to participate in the joint annual meetings of Arab financial institutions, which were held on Thursday, April 7, 2022 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
This event was attended by delegations from the Arab member countries of these institutions, as well as many representatives of regional and international organizations, chairmen of the boards of directors of Arab financial institutions, their directors general and a number of their senior officials.
During these meetings, the Minister participated in the opening session of the joint annual meetings of Arab financial institutions, as well as the boards of governors of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the Arab Investment & Export Credit Guarantee Corporation, the Arab Monetary Fund and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa.
In this event, the Minister chaired the meeting of the Board of Shareholders of the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAIDA), during which the final accounts of the authority were approved, as well as the program of investment operations and the authority's auditors for the coming year were approved.
On this occasion, the minister, in her capacity as a president of the Authority's board of Directors, delivered a speech in which she called on Arab member states to develop the agricultural sector. The latter is considered one of the most reliable sector for achieving economic development, especially after the Corona crisis, which still negatively affects the world and Arab economies.
On the sidelines of these annual meetings, the Minister participated in the meeting of the 13th session of the Council of Arab Finance Ministers, held in the evening of the same day. It was an opportunity to discuss the presentations made by representatives of the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). These speeches revolved around several axes of paramount importance for the countries of the Arab region in a particular international situation. They focused mainly on modernizing the role of the state to stimulate growth driven by the private sector, and financial policies to support the recovery phase after the impact of the Corona pandemic in Arab countries as well as digital transformation strategies in government stock markets in Arab countries.
As a reminder, the Board of Directors of these bodies agreed to hold the annual meetings for the year 2023 in Morocco. On this occasion, Mrs. Nadia FETTAH, Minister of Economy and Finance, welcomed the governors of the Arab countries of the said bodies to their country, the Kingdom of Morocco, and thanked these bodies for the trust they place in Morocco.
Alongside these activities, a meeting was held between the Minister and Mr. Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, Director General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OPEC), during which they discussed the cooperative relations between the two parties and ways to consolidate them. The Minister also met with Mr. Abdirahman Dualeh Beileh, the Somali Minister of Finance, during which both sides stressed the importance of developing bilateral relations, embodying the depth of fraternal ties linking the brotherly countries.
An overview of the joint meetings of the Arab financial institutions:
The Arab financial institutions have been established within the framework of the Arab League by providing funds for its development projects in addition to technical assistance in various development fields.
These include the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the Arab Monetary Fund, the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, and the Arab Investment & Export Credit Guarantee Corporation.
The meetings of these bodies are held annually in one of the Arab countries’ members of the Arab League. The work of the joint meetings of these bodies is characterized by the examination of many items of interest to their activities by presenting recommendations for decision-making by the Supreme Council of each body, as well as the preparation of documents for current affairs, and they are usually linked to reports on the activities of the bodies as well as summaries of the studies they have carried out.