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BETTER TOGETHER
Several years have passed since the formation of the AmCham Middle East North Africa Regional Council (MENA Council). The organization – comprised of the American chambers of commerce of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia – aims to foster regional cooperation while coordinating efforts among its members to increase trade and economic ties between the United States and the MENA region. Last month at a MENA Council meeting in Amman, we saw the first signs of real momentum in achieving our common goals.
With interregional trade figures still low – estimated at just 9 percent of overall trade activity – we have plenty of ground to cover, and many opportunities for building our alliance from within. At the same time, as AmCham Egypt has proved so successfully, AmCham is a powerful mechanism for strengthening commercial ties with America and thus deepening the strategic alliance between our countries.
Last year, at the first MENA Council conference, hosted by AmCham Egypt, we highlighted the issues hindering inter-regional trade and transportation. Moving goods from Egypt to the Gulf, for example, is about three times more expensive than transporting the same goods from China. Better cooperation between the private and public sectors can drive those costs down while improving interregional infrastructure in the long term, MENA Council members concluded.
This year, Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, was with us in Amman, where we focused on ways of deepening the interaction between MENA Council members and the US Chamber. The US Chamber is the world’s largest business federation, representing 3 million companies, associations, and state and local chambers, in addition to 106 American chambers of commerce abroad, including ours. We agreed on several strategies that will begin at once.
This spring, the MENA Council will convene in the US Chamber’s Hall of Flags during AmCham Egypt’s annual DoorKnock mission to Washington DC. Council members aim to convey a unified message that the MENA Council’s business communities are in agreement that economic growth and regional peace will ensure our political stability and pave the way to the democratization we all desire. The council members will meet the following day with US legislators, executive branch officials, think tank representatives and other decision-makers to deliver the message one-on-one.
As we’ve seen at AmCham Egypt, these trips to the US have opened many doors, and we believe that our experience and outreach in America, developed over 23 years of annual DoorKnocks and specialized trade missions, can benefit our MENA partners. It’s worth remembering that over the last two decades AmCham Egypt has evolved from a localized, business-support organization to a force for economic reform, advocating change and making it happen on a national level.
The same could hold true for the MENA Council, especially since collectively we represent a powerful economic force and a massive developing market. By showing our combined strengths, we’ll enhance our individual ones as well.
We’ve also agreed to hold annual MENA meetings in the country of the incumbent MENA president, in this case Raja Khoury in Jordan. In October, we’ll meet once again to promote our ICT-related industries. Meanwhile, we’re looking at ways to increase MENA Council membership and to coordinate efforts to share services among member chambers, including tender announcements, business matchmaking, and a variety of training programs and certifications.
The MENA Council is still young as an organization, but every member AmCham has something to contribute, and we all have the same objectives: to improve commercial ties with one another and with America, and to therefore strengthen our individual economies and upgrade the region’s market profile.
In every MENA Council member nation, the private sector’s contribution to development is vital. Our business communities have a lot in common: we’re all working to create economic environments that can supply jobs and opportunities for growing populations, while also seeking to position ourselves favorably in the global scene.
As our January meeting demonstrated, the MENA Council’s members are ready and willing to cooperate to present a united front for regional development. Together, we stand for peace and prosperity, and believe our shared future holds great promise.
OMAR A. MOHANNA
President, AmCham Egypt
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