 I'm Megan O'Sullivan. I am the director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and a professor at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. It's my pleasure to be moderating our panel today on the economic dilemma in the Middle East and North Africa, reforming and uncertainty. And of course, this is going to be a very interesting conversation for a wide variety of reasons. For those of us who've worked on the Middle East or lived in the Middle East, we often spend a lot of time explaining to people, it's a very diverse region, culturally, ethnically, demographically, and this is certainly also true when it comes to economics. We have countries with very different resource endowments. We have countries with very different demographics to Egypt with 100, more than 100 million people to Qatar with just a few hundred thousand Qataris. We have very big differences in economic structures and debt capacity, infrastructure. There's a lot of variety in the region when it comes to economics as well as to politics and culture. We're going to tease out some of these differences and the differences in economic opportunities and challenges and trajectories in the region today. And we'll do so cognizant of big changes in the global economy as a whole that are influencing the Middle East. So we think about the shift from integration to de-globalization, obviously impacting the region. We think about the shift from fossil fuels to clean energy, the decarbonization push that's happening globally, obviously having big implications for Middle Eastern economies. And we think about the political fragmentation that we see around the world, which of course is having an impact on the Middle East. And we will of course touch on the renewed conflict in parts of the region and how that might be shaping economic trajectories. So we have a fantastic, very high level group to discuss all of these things. I'd like to introduce them. I'll just go down in this direction. Sitting directly to my right is Minister Faisal al-Ibrahim, who's the Minister of Economy and Planning of Saudi Arabia. Moving down, there's Nadia Feta-Alawi, who is the Minister of Economy and Finance of Morocco. Sitting next to her is Minister Rania al-Mashat, who is the Minister of International Cooperation of Egypt. Moving down is Mr. Hussein Sawani, who's the Chairman of Damak International, which is a global property developer. Moving along, we have Mazen Darwaze, who is the Executive Vice Chairman and the President of Middle East and North Africa for Hikma Pharmaceuticals of Jordan. And then finally, we have Mr. Al-Fan Bahul, who's the CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation. So I thought I'd begin the conversation. We're going to talk among the panel for 30 minutes or so, and then we will open for questions. I thought I would begin with you, Faisal, a real softball setting the stage for us. We're at the beginning of 2024 in the face of everything that I described. What do you see as the economic outlook for the region? What do you think of as the biggest constraints on growth and the opportunities? Sure, thank you very much, Megan. I'll start maybe by saying that the Middle East is, or MENA is more integrated in the global economy than it ever was before. And what affects the global economy affects MENA and vice versa. What affects the MENA region also affects the global economy. That said, and despite this being a very challenging time in the region, I think we need to seize the opportunity of uncertainty to move towards more reform and more transformation. Not only because it is necessary because times are dire, but also because this is a good time. It is possible and sometimes more possible when there are challenges than when you're in a steady state. If you look at the Middle East, you'll see two groups of countries, ones that are transforming and ones that are having a little more challenges. I think both countries need to continue, both groups of countries are working on what they have at hand. I think the countries that are transforming need to continue with their transformation. Their strength helps the strength of the MENA region and vice versa. I think the other group needs to also look at how it can kick off reform and get support from its neighboring countries. If you look at GDP for 2024, I think the forecast is around 3.4% for the Middle East, and that's a bit of a jump from where we were before. I think the opportunities are still a plant. If you look at this region, it's still not one of the most integrated regions in of itself, and there's room for more improvement there. The region is one of the youngest in the world, and also it sits at the center of the world, connecting and being in three major continents, especially in a world where we see some fragmentation, but also some opportunities to pivot towards a new version of what we're used to, and even opportunities to co-author the future of the global economy and play a big role in it. There are also natural resources that need to be utilized and invested in a proper way. And I think if we just look at the opportunities ahead and if we try to look positively on these opportunities and work together and continue to be steadfast in what we know needs to be done and what is right and continually think long-term, we'll be in a better position. This region has always been resilient. It's always faced challenges, and it always came out of these challenges in a better version of itself. Great, thank you very much. Hussein, maybe I'll ask you the same question, but from the perspective of the private sector, a global property developer, as I mentioned, when you look at the economic outlook for the region, what are you most focused on? Do you share the assessment that this is a moment of opportunity? I have some different views where I don't think the region is very same. So there are countries which are growing very fast. The economies are solid, their currency is solid, and they're doing miracles like UAE and Saudi Arabia. There are countries who have challenges, and there are countries who have war like Yemen. So you can't say the region is the same. So every country is very different. And even in GCC, every country is different. Qatar has gone through tremendous growth in the last 20 years, but after the football game and all that, there is maybe a little bit of oversupply from the property point of view. Even though it's a very good economy, I know the country for 40 years, we're doing business as a good future, but for the coming two years, it has some oversupply in the property side. So every country is different. We as a company, as a business, we look where the opportunity is, of course, and today we see great opportunity in Saudi Arabia, a part, of course, of our hometown in Dubai is booming. But those are the two areas that we're gonna focus on going forward. Great, thank you for that. Rania, could I turn to you and just ask you about debt, because debt is often a constraint for many countries in the region. It shrinkens the fiscal space that countries have to devote to other priorities, socioeconomic priorities, climate, transition, all of those things. Could you speak to that from the Egyptian perspective and how big an issue that is for Egypt, particularly right now? Let me put it a little bit in a global context, because I think if you read any of the economic outlooks or analysis, be it from the IFIs or research institutions, you'll find that since 2022, on the backdrop of the geopolitical issues in Europe, the flight of capital out of emerging markets was quite steep. And that comes on the back of the developed world, fighting inflation due to food price increases and fuel price increases. And that has really created a shift in the dynamic when it comes to cost of financing for emerging and developing countries that have prior to 2022, trying to navigate a green transition when it comes to their climate sort of objectives and ambitions. And also trying to diversify their economies to be able to attract the capital that can absorb, as my colleague Faisal mentioned, the demographic which need jobs and so forth. So there have been hiccups and sands in the wheels, if you will, in this over the past few years. And this has been highlighted in different discussions if we're talking about the World Bank evolution. And with my colleague Nadia, we are both governors there and this is centerpiece. What do multilateral development banks, what can the private sector along with government policies try and create a conducive platform for de-risking some of the private investments in countries which need it the most? I think a focus on the medium to long term is extremely important because different countries still have the potential and the resources, as was just highlighted, to provide very good and plugged in inputs to the global economy, which is much needed across the board. And therefore working together in the spirit of Davos, when we say multistakeholder engagement, becomes extremely important. If I can speak on some of the ways forward when it comes to several initiatives taking place in the African continent, out of the different COP discussions, particularly when it comes to debt swaps for climate, which again creates more of that fiscal space that you spoke about. And the green transition is important for all of us because of the jobs it creates and also because of the different ambitions that we have. So that's maybe how I would like to put the overall framework of where we do stand with respect to the global developments with that particular point that you brought up. Great, thank you very much. Mazen, if I could move to you, build on what we just heard about the importance of the private sector, working with the government, the public sector in unlocking potential. So when you think about the reforms that you are looking for, that you think are most needed in Jordan and the region more generally, how would you present them? How would you characterize the reforms that you're most eager to see? When you start reform, you start with the stakeholders. 50% of the population of the Arab world is below 30 years. Today, women empowerment in the Arab world in the workforce is less than 30%. So the potential upside is much more huge in terms of having those capacities in the workforce. This is number one. Number two, music to my ears, what is excellency said about opening trade in the Arab world and having more cooperation. We've been preaching about that since 1965. In 1965, the Arab League signed an agreement to open the markets for pharmaceuticals and have a unified registration. Today we're in 2024, and still this hasn't happened. The pharma market, I'm going to talk from perspective of the pharma market. The pharma market, the whole total pharma market of the Middle East is 3% dollar value of the global market. So money spent on healthcare in the Arab world is still minimal. We have countries that spend $12 and $15 per person, and countries in the Gulf and Saudi that go up to 800 or 900 or 200, depending on the country. Why? Talking about the U.S., it's a 42% dollar market where you have social network, Japan is the same. So where is it that we need reform in the Arab world? We need, first of all, to have the basic infrastructure of healthcare redefined, and many countries started doing that, and I see it in the plans that I've witnessed in several countries. But then again, when you talk about reform, you're talking about opening trade barriers, you're opening monetary systems, you're talking about governance. This is something that really scares me in the Arab world. Many countries are taking very bold steps towards governance, but some countries are becoming more protective and closing their markets. So the paradox here is, how are we going to be able to deal with that? But I'm very optimistic about them the least. I see a great opportunity. For example, now we're trying to bring all of our back office business from the U.S. to the Arab world, having our hub of R&D in the Arab world. We're exporting today from Saudi Arabia, from Jordan to the U.S. and Europe. And I think we can have low-cost manufacturing sites in the MENA region, whereby we can employ more people and get them more engaged. But this has to be a multi-stakeholder. All of us have to work together on that. Thank you very much. Let me build on another thing that Nadia touched on, or Nadia, I'm going to you, Nadia, is the issue of climate change and how it's affecting the countries in the region. And you're coming from Morocco, of course. And Morocco has this unique characteristic that it is connected energy-wise to Europe, which is, of course, pushing ahead with its energy transition very aggressively. How is climate change affecting the prospects for economic growth in Morocco, in North Africa, generally speaking? I don't know if there is any more all over the world that is still skeptical about the effects of climate change everywhere. And Morocco is... Come to America. But in Morocco, it's definitely a priority to tackle the effects of the climate change and take it as an opportunity. Maybe I can touch on two or three points. First, water. We were, I would say, in previous years dealing with the drought, years of drought, and action plan for the drought. Today, we changed completely the mindset and said that the base case is the scarcity of water. And therefore, we have a full plan for many measures. For period 20 to 27, we're talking about $15 billion. We had some delay because of COVID. The choice is desalination. Objective 27, 50% of the drinking water would be from desalination. Less pressure on agriculture. I will be back to agriculture. Also, keep building dams. We also have launched a very, I would say, interesting project. The Northern region of Morocco had, I would say, excess of water. So for the first time, we built a highway of water going from the north to the south. So water, a huge priority from the leadership of our country to every single Moroccan citizens. We started with the offer and then we increase in awareness for the consumer. We think about agriculture, but industry, tourism, renewable energy, everyone is consuming this water. We need it. We need to provide for it. But I would say in a sustainable way. On agriculture, Morocco has also done, I would say, really important progress when it comes to this climate change. A year of drought, like the one we have in 2022, three decades from now, it would have caused a decrease by 40% in the added value on the agriculture sector. And because of all the strategies, because of we are using technology innovation, unfortunately, the added value decreased by 13%, which caused two points of growth in GDP, but 13% is much better than 40%. And we will still use innovation technology to do it better. And diversification of the economy have allowed for this. On another topic is renewable energies. We have a plan committed by 2030 to have 50% of the capacity of our energy coming from the renewable energies, wind, solar. So we are now increasing the pace of the investment. We have made the choice to invite the private sector to come to invest in the PPP's format or direct private sector. So just to talk about reform and the governance, I think that the public sector should be regulating easing the life of the investors, given the long-term visibility, because I think investors like to be, I would say, having the comfort and the trust on the visibility. Maybe one point on climate change and just to echoes what my colleague was saying is that what we are facing now is that we are committed to have a green sustainable growth. We are facing challenges of climate change and we are not getting the financing that is needed. So we will keep advocating for additional money to transition. We know that we never get, but we'll try keeping all that money, but at least we should have cheapest money for. So in some cases, you have incentive of, I would say, a rebate of 20 basis points for a huge commitment for all the industries and the Moroccan citizens. I said, no, this is unfair. We are committed. We are doing our part of the job. We need to think about how to finance this climate transition for all the region and for all the world. Thank you for bringing that in. It certainly has been one of the big topics of conversation when we think about the energy transition affecting so many countries in Africa and the Middle East and beyond. Help on, I'd like to come to you and actually one of the bright spots that we think about in the Middle East when it comes to economics is a growing class of entrepreneurs. And I wonder if you could talk to us a little bit about what needs to be done. Of course, we're talking about reform. What needs to be done to help make the ecosystem more conducive to entrepreneurs and the growth of the private sector. Thank you, Megan. First of all, I'd like to say I'm honored to be with the esteemed panelists here. Honored to be here with you all. And I think, I mean, many of the buzzwords have been mentioned through my fellow panelists. And I think, I mean, if I go back a bit before talking about entrepreneurship, if we go back for the past maybe four or five years or even before, I think the world has been sending us so many signs and curveballs across geopolitical conflicts or economical conflicts or even opportunities when it comes to the digital economy and the value of digital economy. Or even if you look at the pandemic, for example, those are all big signs that have one common denominator. And it is the only way forward to resolve all those is really to have conversations and unite at a global level. And this is no difference when it comes to the MENA region. There's obviously, His Excellency, the minister has mentioned so many points regarding the opportunities, the talent, the young population, 50% in comparison to the OECD countries which are at 36%, the sovereign capital and assets that are worth north of 3.1 trillion as well. That's available for funding. So the opportunities are there. The stories, the success stories are happening. You hear exits when it comes to entrepreneurs, you hear the evaluations. And I'd say in certain countries, I agree, certain countries in MENA are maybe doing better than others when it comes to success stories, when it comes to growing those businesses. But I think this is the good news that there's more investment in venture even though there was maybe a bit of a drop in the past year but that was a global drop in funding innovation entrepreneurship which also had a ripple effect on the region which is normal. But I think in order for those success stories and going back to the minister's comment, in order for all those stories to really grow in the region, there needs to be a unified growth success story when it comes to policy. Those businesses back in the days used to look at their population that surrounded them to grow. Nowadays, an innovator or startup with a click of a button, the world becomes their market. So how can we replicate those stories that happen in UAE or happen in Saudi to happen throughout the MENA region through seamless, borderless policies that are friendly for entrepreneurs? And I think this is the key success factor in the upcoming 10 or 20 years. If you look at the impact on economies when it comes to the AI and now the Gen AI, they're talking about north of 5 trillion by 2030. Same when it comes to the whole digital economy including the metaverse. But this is impossible if we do not replicate those stories across and create seamless growth because 10 million population in UAE isn't enough nor is it the population of Saudi Arabia. It's the whole MENA region. And I think for those of you that talk about competition between countries within the Middle East is mistaken because this is complementary. This is synergistic. This is supporting the wider ecosystem. And if we create that right cross-border agile policy and replicate it across the MENA region, the MENA region will be the hottest testbed for innovation, shall we? Thank you very much. Maybe can I make an intervention before just because climate was mentioned. So I want to just follow up on what Minister Nadia mentioned. And this is also one of the outcomes of COP28 and the joint statement from the multilateral development banks to provide the concessional finance. And there there was a very important emphasis on country ownership and country platforms to be able to put together the desalination projects, the energy transition projects, renewables, food security, agriculture, and so forth. And I just want to mention here that country platforms are a way to also invite private investments when there are clear projects identified by the government, but also the space for public-private partnerships. And I just want to underscore Egypt's country platform, the nexus of water, food, and energy. NWFE is pronounced in Arabic nuwafi, which means fulfilling pledges. And that's because COP27 was from pledges to implementation. And the idea is to have commitment with respect to the nationally determined contributions, the NDCs, translate those into projects which are well identified, and then have credibility with the MDBs and so forth to be able to bring in the private sector. We have several companies from the Gulf working with us in our renewable energy space because of the ambition to add to the bin-band solar plant that we had in 2014 and put extra capacities going forward. Also, water desalination. Water is scarce in Egypt particularly. And water desalination is the next big investment for private sector to come in. And then finally, food security with everything that's happening with agriculture and just bringing in entrepreneurship because the solutions for climate action also lies in the technology and in innovation, which a lot of the youth in the Middle East and in our countries are actually providing and being part of the solution. Great. Thank you very much, Rania. Faisal, I'd like to come back to you and ask about Vision 2030. So you talked about countries at the beginning. You said countries that have already embarked on a program of reform. And Saudi Arabia is clearly in that category having undertaken a wide variety of reforms. I actually, many years ago, I was in Saudi Arabia and I had someone say to me that Vision 2030 was a revolution in disguise of an economic reform program. And certainly we have seen so many changes in Saudi Arabia in recent years. But I want to ask you about the break-even price. When it comes to oil, we often hear that Saudi Arabia is interested in keeping, say, a $90 price for oil globally in order to ensure that it can execute the many components of this ambitious Vision 2030 strategy. Could you comment on the strategy? How is it going? We're actually getting closer and closer to 2030. And for how long do you think that Saudi Arabia will need to have a certain high price of oil in order to ensure that it is able to implement its internal domestic reforms? Sure. So I can't comment on price. I think if you ask this question to any Saudi, they'll give you the same answer. And anyone who understands the true dynamics of energy markets and oil markets will also say that Saudi and its partners are solving for long-term stability of the market. And that's what we've always done. And sometimes production cuts are necessary for us to get there. And we don't want to be in a period where there isn't enough investments. And then we end up in a shortage and end up at a time where we have to use forms of energy that are very dirty and painful to the environment. And we live in a very high stress in terms of heat and drought area of the world. And we are the first people who will be affected by any lack of success on that agenda. But as far as the vision goes, Vision 2030 is an evolution, a transformation that is really taking us to where we want to be as an economy and society. We are at the midpoint. Since 2016, the Saudi's economy without oil has grown 20%. And that's faster than the EU and the US, which is at 10% and 14%. In 2022, we recorded the fastest growth in terms of the G20 countries at 8.7%. The non-oil activities grew at 5.9%. And since then, every quarter, we are seeing the same momentum around 5%, 6%, more recently a little less because the levels in 2020 were very high towards the end of 2022. But we're witnessing more economic activity coming from new sectors. In the first half of 2023, that was tourism. It grew at 130% over the year or year over year. And we forecast that in 2024, we'll have a total growth of 4.4% and non-oil growth between 4.5% and 5%. The momentum is continuing. The transformation is continuing. But we need to keep in mind that every transformation is a grueling process. And every transformation requires long-term thinking. And it's not easy to work together and adopt a long-term view. Otherwise, we wouldn't have most of the problems or the challenges we have today. So it's important to continue thinking long-term, continue delivering day in, day out consistently with a boldness and a view to collaborate with the world, but also back to the lack of economic integration in the region, the opportunity to improve it. We need to also double down on that as a region. We in the GCC have been working towards that more firmly in the recent years. We recently signed two FTAs as a GCC and will continue to do so. And there's always a bright spot in the Middle East, even if there's challenges. More recently, I'd like to note the growth in VC funding in Saudi Arabia, which was the highest in Mina. And we were nowhere near the first five or six, five or 10 years ago. So whatever there's a challenge, there's another opportunity in this region. And I think the more economically integrated it is, the better. Zulal Hainas said this in one of the FII's in Riyadh. He said, soon the Middle East will become the new Europe. And I believe he meant in terms of economic integration. We still have an opportunity to achieve that. Thank you. Rania, I'd like to address this question to you, but it's really for the whole panel. Obviously, one of the foci of this world economic forum has been the increase in conflict around the world. And we've seen a tragic conflict unfolding in Gaza and with real risks for escalation to the region as a whole. Egypt, of course, is probably one of the countries that is most affected by this economically and stands the risk of being even more economically impacted. Could you say a bit about how the conflict and the risks of further instability is affecting the economic outlook? And I welcome comments from any panelists on this. Well, we've been here for several days. And really, the discussion on what's happening in the Middle East is discussed in closed doors and also in panels. It's a very urgent situation. And I think everybody today is with the realization that we need a permanent solution so that people are protected. And also, the economics of conflict are as much as possible mitigated because of the possible spillover effects that we are seeing today. Of course, Egypt has taken on the Palestinian cause for many, many years. And most recently, the humanitarian aid that has been flowing from Rafah, how the world has been bringing this humanitarian aid, but how on the logistics side and also the hospitals in Egypt being open for the casualties from Palestine. But also, what's happening with the Red Sea is quite urgent. It's quite important. We were just coming out of supply chain disruptions from COVID, the soft landing that everybody has been expecting with interest rates tightening, sort of moderating. All of this is being challenged now with an exogenous shock that was not expected at all. So any of the forecasts that were done just a few months ago are just tipping the exact size, extent, duration is anybody's guess. And that's why the political solution is very, very important so that the economic outturn is one that does not create even more sufferings when it comes to unemployment uncertainty. And again, the theme of this Davos is trust. And I think that is one commodity. I know Faisal didn't want to comment on the price of oil, but also trust has a price. And that is a price that all of us need to work together to be able to be able to maintain. Also, private sector with this uncertainty is going to be more challenged. And also the cost of financing is going to be more challenged. So it's just an exacerbation of shock on top of shock. And therefore, we count on political leadership and collaboration to be able to find a sustainable solution, which is extremely, extremely pivotal and important at this stage. Thank you, Reynia. Mazen, you indicated you'd like to comment on this. And then I'll turn to the audience for some questions. This is a very critical path now in the Middle East, especially with the Gaza war and the genocide that's being committed. And trust is something very important, like we said. So there must be a global trust on how we can handle this. I've had several discussions with many business leaders from different parts of the Arab world and Israel. And there is a lack of fear today of trust. This is what we have to address. I'll give you a very good example. And the other day, Her Excellency spoke about refugees, for example, in Egypt. It's 9 million today you have versus a population of 100 million. In Jordan today, we have 3 million on a population of 8 million. So every dollar we spend on our economy, 30 percent goes to subsidizing non-Jordian actual. And this is becoming more scary if we have an outflux from the government, I mean, from the Gaza war, especially into Egypt and Jordan, that will be also a disaster situation. Now, both countries have said this will not be accepted. But in reality, it's happening. In reality, there are people that are being displaced today coming to these parts and in order just to have a secure life. So there should be trust, there should be cooperation, and there should be a global commitment on how we can address these issues as we go forward. Great. Thank you very much. As I mentioned, I'd like to turn to the audience. So I think there is a microphone. If you could just stand up and identify yourself and direct your question to one of our panelists, that would be great. John Chipman, two quick questions. Executive Chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. To Minister Feta Alawi, you look north, but you also look south. And I wonder if you could say a few words about the importance of migrant labor from sub-Saharan Africa into Morocco and how you've been able to ensure that that migrant labor doesn't perhaps cause some of the social problems that we have in Europe. And to Minister Al-Masat, I would like to give you the opportunity to say a few words about the role of the Egyptian army in the domestic economy in Egypt, because whenever I speak to people who are interested in potentially investing in Egypt, that's the first question that comes up. Do I really have to engage with the army? How big a role do they have in the Egyptian economy? Can you say a few words? But the best answer is to that question. Thank you very much. Thank you, John. Nadia. On the sub-Saharan, I would say, cooperation of Morocco, I think, just to mention, it is in the DNA of Morocco to be really working for the South-South cooperation. Morocco is the second foreign investment, a foreign investment in Africa in many areas now today. But as everyone knows, this youth dividend, the demographic dividend, actually is not happening yet because there is a lot of challenges and a lot of them try to cross the Mediterranean through Morocco. So we work closely with the European Union to find short-term but also mid- and long-term solution. We commit also to help by investing first in the country, despite the fact that our resources are limited, but we strongly believe that we need to invest locally, train locally, finance locally as a solution. We also train a lot of young Africans in Morocco. We have almost 15,000 of them yearly. We pay the scholarship of almost 20% on, I would say, our own budget because we want to offer them, I would say, education and give them incentive to go back home to create this. We are not, I would say, we are not tempted by these brain dreams, but since you're giving me this opportunity, I am telling our partners that also struggling with this migration that no one can stop now, that we need our talent, we need our brain. A government like Morocco spends 6% of the GDP of educating people. So when you have IT engineers, doctors, they're getting visas in two weeks because someone needs them in the North. When you have an entrepreneur, not you, but a young entrepreneur that needs a visa to go buy some technology or get some financing or just understand what's happening in the market, they will get his visa in nine months, 12 months or never. So I think this migration is not just talking about borders being, I would say, an excuse, an agenda for election outside time. I think each of us have a duty to come with solutions. Morocco is committed to this long-term vision, but I think that we need our youth to be educated. We need our entrepreneur to be confident and to have their part of, I would say, the global growth. Great, thank you. Maybe on that question, the role of state has been discussed extensively over the past two years. The government came out with a state ownership policy paper which identifies the sectors that will continue to have some sort of participation and then the ones that are going to be open. So that is published that there's a framework on how to move there. Being the minister who deals with IFIs, we in June of last year have a strategic partnership with the IFC to actually work on an asset monetization program. So the first phase of that was concluded a month ago with a strategy on which sectors would be open given the global circumstance and of course all the uncertainty that we just talked because that also creates additional pressure on how to move ahead with an asset monetization program. But let me give some statistics that despite all of this, and when you take a look at the concessional finance that comes to the country, and this finance doesn't only come to the government, it also comes to the private sector. Over the past four years, there's been $10 billion from multilateral development banks, some bilateral partners that have been financing private sector in Egypt. IFC has one of its biggest private sector programs in the country. If I look at EBRD, if I look at EIB, the finance that they provide for private sector, and here it's not just Egyptian private sectors, also foreign companies has been quite sizable in different sectors, renewables being a key one. Also, when it comes to manufacturing, when we look at pharmaceuticals, so there have been quite impressive investments, and when I say financing concessional, it's important because this is the lower than market rates and therefore you do see a very important movement in that space and I think going forward with the asset monetization program and the plans that the government has made public, that is also going to be quite important for us. Thank you. We have a question back second to last row. Thank you so much. Do you want to stand up? Thank you so much. Meena Al-Araibi, editor of The National, based in Abu Dhabi. I have a question for you, your Excellency Khalfan. You are CEO of the Future Foundation, the Bay Future Foundation. So the idea of always thinking long term, which is difficult when we look at all the difficulties we currently have in the region, especially with the devastating Razza war. So when you're looking long term and you're thinking the future, what are two or things we should be thinking about when we look to the region? Be they challenges or opportunities? Good to see you, first of all, and I think, yeah, I think first of all, we need to keep an open mind and I think when someone thinks about the Bay Future Foundation and to your point, people ask us, what do you guys do? What's the Future Foundation doing? And the mandate is extremely agnostic, but I think to your point, the idea is just to, first of all, have an entity that's agile enough to understand what are the global priorities and what are the things that matter most to humanity? And going back to maybe to touch upon the geopolitical complex and the topics you mentioned about the Razza, if we as a world put humanity in the forefront, it's easier said than done, but everything can be resolved if you put any other interests, we set everything aside. If we think of the human and what's in there for the betterment of humanity, everything can be resolved. And I think the Bay Future Foundation does that. We look at, we focus on foresight, we look at what is the most important thing for humanity? And obviously, the major usual suspects of topics are always there, whether it's climate, whether it's how do we adopt AI? How do we become more interconnected? So if you ask me, those are probably the top three, but then it's all about what you do about them and how do you deploy efforts, whether it's capital or whether it's resources, whether it's alignment when it comes to global policies, all of the above needs to be done. There is sovereign capital around the world, but, and speaking maybe going back to maybe as I can see the minister's comment about the type of capital that needs to be deployed. Sovereign has asset allocation, has risk profiling, has return expectation, but you need that courageous kind of capital that will invest into those new ideas while accepting the risk that will come from those ideas. They're more patient, they'll have an impact on return, but they'll create new sectors, they'll create new jobs. So maybe this is a longer answer to your question, but I think the priorities are the sectors I mentioned. They're on top of the minds of everyone around the world, but it's all about what you do about them, whether it's funding or whether it's enabling or policy change to ensure that everything is done, not in the betterment of one country, but in the betterment of humanity as a whole. Thank you for giving us a very good note upon which to end. We're at that time, I have to bring this to a close. We started the conversation talking about the many differences in the region, but I think our conversation actually focused on a lot of the commonalities, despite the very different situations and characters of the regional economies. We talked a lot about the imperative of climate, we talked a lot about the need for reform, the need for an opportunity of greater integration, somewhat about the demographics and the demographic dividend that has yet to be fully seized in the Middle East, but certainly is there. And then of course, perhaps most importantly, the need to find a solution to violence and war and conflict in a way that provides a sustainable future and a secure future for Israelis and for Palestinians alike. With that, I want to ask you to join me in thanking our guests here for a really interesting and insightful presentation.