Jordan Times
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Jordan to host G-11 summit
By Khalid Neimat
AMMAN — Jordan will host the second Lower-Middle Income Countries Summit (G-11)
on May 19 at the Dead Sea, official sources confirmed on Monday.
The organisation’s 11 member countries will attend the summit as a means to
increase cooperation and knowledge sharing.
His Majesty King Abdullah launched the G-11 in September last year, and the
group its first summit on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly
in New York.
During the launch, the Monarch said member states should adopt a common goal: To
make foreign aid responsive to local needs, shift from loans to grants to keep
countries from reaccumulating debt, lobby wealthy countries to open their
markets to developing country production, especially in the agricultural sector,
and channel savings from debt into strengthening education and public health
sectors.
Jordan is the current secretary general of the group, and the Monarch will chair
its meetings here, according to Bassem Awadallah, head of the King Abdullah II
Fund for Development.
The gathering will discuss issues that are of interest to the member countries,
Awadallah told reporters during a press conference yesterday. In addition to
Jordan, the group includes Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Tunisia, Georgia,
Croatia, Honduras, Paraguay, Ecuador and Indonesia.
“These countries have achieved significant results in their reform and
restructuring policies, which has resulted in their economics being enhanced,”
Awadallah added, noting that they seek support from industrialised states.
Jordan will also host the Conference of Nobel laureates for the third successive
year, from May 15-16.
This year, youth from around the Middle East will have a leading voice at the
event, entitled, “Petra III: Building a Better World.”
This year’s event will also extend to a discussion of how to enhance educational
opportunities for young people in the Middle East, in particular by overcoming
the information deficit.
The focus on youth reflects a broader concern in the region to create systems
and structures that can ensure a high quality of life and opportunities for the
region’s largest youth cohort in history as it comes of age. Today, more than
half the region’s population is below the age of 18.
Nobel laureates from the six fields in which the Nobel Prize is awarded each
year — peace, economics, literature, physics, chemistry as well as physiology
and medicine — are expected to attend the gathering, as well as several
international public figures.
Meanwhile, from May 18-20 the Kingdom will host the World Economic Forum for the
fourth time at the Dead Sea. Large-scale investment projects in various areas
are expected to be announced during the conference.
“Pakistan will announce major projects as well as the United Arab Emirates,”
Awadallah said, adding that the forum is an opportunity for local and regional
businessmen to meet their counterparts from various countries in the world in
order to explore available investments opportunities.