On February 19, G7 leaders agreed “to work together and with others to make 2021 a turning point for multilateralism”. A week later, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors echoed the call for joint action and strong policy co-operation.
International co-ordination has never been more important as the world continues to grapple with a global pandemic and the worst peacetime economic contraction since the Great Depression.
The cornerstone of this global strategy is regional co-operation – a long-time call for the Mena region and now an opportunity of a lifetime.
Near-term co-operation to help end the health crisis and accelerate recovery
The prospect of ending the health crisis and hastening the recovery hinges on wide access to efficient distribution of vaccines, as well as policies that support growth and mitigate economic scarring from the pandemic.
Within the Mena region, only a handful of countries have started vigorous vaccination campaigns – these being GCC nations and a few others with production capacity, such as Morocco.
Our latest forecasts suggest that countries with diversified vaccine providers could this year record higher growth on average by 0.3 percentage points to 0.4 percentage points, compared with their October 2020 forecasts.
On the other hand, most countries in the region plan to rely primarily on the World Health Organisation's Covax vaccine-sharing scheme.
Those with more limited access to vaccines and/or hit harder by the second wave will have weaker outlooks and delayed recoveries. The 2021 gross domestic product of fragile and conflict-affected states could be 6 per cent lower than it was in 2019.
Regional co-operation is thus essential to ensure equal and sufficient access to vaccines for all countries. It is also in the interest of both vaccine haves and vaccine have-nots as the virus knows no borders.
Countries that have secured surpluses and those with domestic vaccine production capacity, such as Morocco and the UAE, could increase production and improve distribution to those with insufficient supplies while countries with the know-how should support others when it comes to storage and distribution.
This has already started: in the UAE, the Hope Consortium is providing logistics services to distribute 6 billion doses of vaccines worldwide during the first half of 2021, while the Vaccine Logistics Alliance is expected to support the delivery of 2 billion doses globally under the WHO's Covax initiative, prioritising countries with low storage capacity.
Such co-operation needs to be generalised and further strengthened, with a priority to support fragile and conflict-affected states. A joint procurement arrangement similar to the EU initiative could also be considered as a cost-effective way to secure access to vaccines by a larger number of countries.
Co-operation is also critical to reduce economic divergence and hasten recovery. Under the current policies, the recovery of emerging markets in the Mena region is projected to lag behind that of their peers elsewhere, with most countries not recouping their 2019 GDP levels until 2022.
Moreover, many of the region’s countries do not have the policy space to further support their economies. Additional public spending could exacerbate debt sustainability concerns in several countries.
In this context, further regional co-operation and integration could provide an additional source of growth without mounting pressure on fiscal positions.
Further economic integration among Maghreb countries could create a regional market of about 100 million people, make the region more attractive for foreign direct investment and increase the efficiency of resource allocation, according to a 2019 study by the International Monetary Fund.
Intraregional trade may double, contributing to higher employment and raising growth in each Maghreb country by 1 percentage point on average in the long term. With trade and tourism hit hard by the coronavirus, the potential benefits from further integration could be even higher.
Longer-term co-operation to build a strong, resilient, and inclusive regional economy
Beyond the immediate need to support each other on vaccines and post-pandemic recovery, there is a wide range of common challenges faced by the region that could benefit from further co-operation and peer learning. These include efforts to strengthen social protections and find a solution to help refugees and internally displaced people.
Tackling crisis legacies by fostering a dynamic private sector-driven economy and further integrating women, youth and informal sector workers into the formal economy are salient. Enhancing governance for better economic and social outcomes is also critical.
The pandemic has also intensified global efforts in green policies and digitalisation. These provide potential sources of additional growth. But they also tap into the region's unique comparative advantage – with proper education and training, the Mena region's very young population could lead in pushing technological advances.
Therefore, it is critical to seize this opportunity to start on high-quality investment in green infrastructure and digitisation at a regional level, with common standards and co-ordinated policies. Sharing experiences of those more advanced in these areas – for example, the UAE – could hasten progress across the entire region.
Regional co-operation calls for reducing barriers and reviving regional institutions
Regional co-operation and integration will require the gradual elimination of trade and investment barriers, improved labour and capital movement, more connected infrastructure, and harmonised standards across the region – including digital and environmental standards.
The recent Al-Ula agreement, signed by GCC leaders at their latest summit on January 5, 2021, is a step in the right direction. This agreement will pave the way for a gradual normalisation of economic ties in the region and re-energise efforts to create a unified market in the GCC.
In the short term, it will cut travel times, reduce import costs and boost tourism once the pandemic subsides. In the medium-term, the agreement could encourage investors and lead to a surge of capital flows.
Stronger institutional arrangements will be essential for further economic integration, calling for a renewed co-ordination framework among various regional institutions.
This is a window of opportunity for the region to contribute more to international economic decisions, promote regional priorities and defend regional interests.
Amid this once-in-a-life-time crisis, I urge Mena countries to “think regional” and seize this opportunity of a lifetime.
Jihad Azour is the director of the International Monetary Fund's Middle East and Central Asia department
UNSC Elections 2022-23
Seats open:
- Two for Africa Group
- One for Asia-Pacific Group (traditionally Arab state or Tunisia)
- One for Latin America and Caribbean Group
- One for Eastern Europe Group
Countries so far running:
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What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
FA CUP FINAL
Manchester City 6
(D Silva 26', Sterling 38', 81', 87', De Bruyne 61', Jesus 68')
Watford 0
Man of the match: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
Global institutions: BlackRock and KKR
US-based BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with $5.98 trillion of assets under management as of the end of last year. The New York firm run by Larry Fink provides investment management services to institutional clients and retail investors including governments, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, banks and charitable foundations around the world, through a variety of investment vehicles.
KKR & Co, or Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, is a global private equity and investment firm with around $195 billion of assets as of the end of last year. The New York-based firm, founded by Henry Kravis and George Roberts, invests in multiple alternative asset classes through direct or fund-to-fund investments with a particular focus on infrastructure, technology, healthcare, real estate and energy.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Leading all-time NBA scorers
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387
Karl Malone 36,928
Kobe Bryant 33,643
Michael Jordan 32,292
LeBron James 31,425
Wilt Chamberlain 31,419
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.