Public-private partnerships will revive pandemic-hit regional economies, says World Economic Forum

Sets out policy guidelines that will shape such projects across Middle East

Dubai: Middle East leaders and heads of business are charting a new strategy built on public-private partnerships as the best way to generate future growth.

The signatories are members of the World Economic Forum’s Regional Action Group on the Middle East and North Africa, which the Forum created in April in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is based on the belief that companies and governments need to have a "larger societal role" and the "Principles of Stakeholder Capitalism" will serve as the framework to steer collaboration.

These principles are:

* Crafting inclusive economic policies and a new social contract;

* Stimulating economic integration;

* Reshaping education systems;

* Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution;

* Promoting environmental sustainability;

* Mitigating global health risks; and

* Committing to good and agile governance

The Regional Action Group on the Middle East and North Africa will offer a platform for projects that emerge from these principles, with the aim of scaling them up and replicating them throughout the region. The principles were released ahead of the World Economic Forum’s Sustainable Development Impact Summit.

In a statement, Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil, Chairman and Managing Director of VPS Healthcare and part of the Regional Action Group, said: "The raging pandemic has brought pertinent issues to the front: poverty, inequality, access to quality healthcare and education, decent work and living conditions, and many more. It is time governments, responsible institutions, and industry leaders come together on a multilateral stage to deliberate, formulate, and design a robust and structured plan for the revival of the global economy."