Why Has Arab Economic Cooperation Been So Elusive? May be we should start at natural regions. The Mashreq region offers substantial and substantive benefits to all of its member countries given its diverse resources, proximity of the members and many historical links. It will constitute the needed first step to larger cooperation with other Arab countries. A discussion of challenges and opportunities is offered grounded in facts and figures.
Host: Waleed Akar, Professor of Economics
Faculty of Business, Sagesse University-Lebanon
Guest: Dr. Atif Kubursi.
Dr. Kubursi is Professor Emeritus of Economics at McMaster University. He is also President of Econometric Research Limited. In 1982, he joined the United Nations Industrial Organization as Senior Development Officer. Since then he worked as a team leader of several UNIDO missions to Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sudan, and Egypt. In 2006 he was appointed Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA).
He has published extensively in the areas of macroeconomics, economic development strategies, international trade, impact analysis and regional planning with special emphasis on the environment, tourism and industrial development. He has frequently lectured on globalization issues, economic development, oil and industrialization, impact of tourism on provincial and local economies, political economy of development, Arab affairs and on environment-economy linkages. He has published 10 books and over 250 journal articles and technical reports.
