AEF/Res/B/1 Council: The Arab Economic Forum Sponsors: Arab Republic of Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Libya, the

Republic of Somalia , Republic of the Sudan, the Republic of Tunisia, Sultanate of Oman, Transitional National Council of Syria, United Arab Emirates Co-Sponsors: Greece, Japan, United Nations Development Program, United States of America, World Bank Group, Qatar,
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Recognizing the values and motives of the Tunis Declaration, which emphasizes the commitment to the basic needs of our populations, including education, listed under clause 11, Further Recognizing the commitments established in the Tunis Declaration, which urges the International Community to provide our countries with the necessary assistance to achieve the above objectives and to support our efforts for the implementation of the Dakar/NGOR Declaration in particular to assist Member States in the implementation of their information, education, communication (IEC) strategies, in service delivery, capacity building for statistical data collection, analysis, research and reporting capabilities to enhance the management of population and development matters, Recalling that the Arab Board of Health Specializations under the Council of Arab Health Ministers provides technical training to medical professionals in the Arab region, Realizing the need to create incentives for inhabitants of rural areas to reduce rural urban emigration, Further Recognizing that corruption in the Arab region has played a role in hindering the implementation of past initiatives aimed at human capital development, Recognizing the current situation in the Arab League Nations concerning the fulfillment of the basic nutritional needs, Acknowledging that food security is vital in order to prevent future food crisiss that would also compromise education and health care, Believing that the ability to maintain a sufficient development of food for the Arab people is necessary for the further pursuit of education, health, infrastructure, and other development concerns, Recalling the situation of Somalia requires immediate attention on the part of the member states,

The Arab Economic Forum hereby:

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1. Calls Member States to work diligently towards providing a level of transparency agreed upon and enshrined in previous declaration such as the Tunis Declaration; 2. Creates a sub-committee called the Arab Committee for Human Capital (ACHC) for the development of human capital; 3. Designates the committee with respect to the sovereignty of all Arab States shall be: a. Funded through Arab League dues, individual Member States contributions, development banks including , but not limited to, the Islamic Development Bank and recommends further funding from the AWI; b. Shall be in accordance with the Arab League Charter and procedural rules for the Arab Economic Forum; c. approved by the Arab Economic Forums before becoming a resolution; 4. Designates the Committee shall focus on: a. Human Capital Development through Education and trade Specialization; b. Improving transparency and encouraging local growth and investment throughout the Arab World; c. Expanding Health and Human Services; d. Ensuring necessary food and potable water supply for Human Capital Development and: i. shall compile reports regarding the aforementioned topics in addition to the allocation of funds and additional employment development; 5. Establishes the Arab Economic Council shall work with the AWI to achieve transparency through: a. Reviewing successful cases of transparency through corporate governance codes throughout the Arab World; b. Continue the implementation of the Tunis Declaration in specific relation to North African Member States and International norms; c. Discuss creating credible commitments between creditors and borrowers that encourage small business loans and development; d. Increase female entrepreneurship within each Arab States pursuant to their individual cultural norms and values through expanding access to credit and economic opportunity and also through increasing womens literacy rates and labor force participation and the strengthening of labor policies regarding them; 6. Reforms the Functions of the Board in the mandate of the Arab Board of Health Specializations under the Council of Arab Health Ministers to include;

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a. Specifically Subsidizing medicine on an Pan Arab scale for specific diseases prevalent in the MENA region so as to provide citizens of Arab states with access to medicine at lower costs; b. To be funded in part by the Arab World Initiative in partnership with the World Bank; c. The reform mandate should take into effect after member states have ratified the mandate and only the mandate should only bind those members that ratify it; 7. Enables the Arab people to cultivate their agriculture by providing skill development in ways which include but are not limited to; a. Providing training towards the development of the necessary skills to grow crops which sustain basic nutritional needs; b. Distributing the necessary equipment to accomplish the aforementioned goals; 8. Encourages rural development by sponsoring small farmers in the form of micro finance loans which would be provided by Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) in the form of; a. Evaluating the regions containing arable lands suitable for agriculture; b. Connecting those equipped by the previous training with the lands identified as arable within their nations; c. Sponsoring these farmers initial start-up costs with micro finance loans; i. These loans would not bind them to interest payments; ii. Rather equitable loans which would share in the profits and losses of those farmers; 9. Encourages the development of infrastructure especially focusing upon; a. Transportation development to ensure movement of food grains from production to market centers by creating roads and railways; b. Supply chain efficiency in the form of more accurate communication between the farms, the final destination, and all stops in between; c. Creating storage facilities on an individual and community level d. Encourages the establishment of a derivative market to facilitate the trade of financial instruments like options or futures to hedge against price exposure i) Setting up a mutual fund under the banner of AFESD that would provide the expertise of trade on behalf of the farmers. 10. Promotes farmers to stay in rural areas by: a. Encouraging member nations to purchase the food produced by these farmers located within the rural areas identified in the second clause of the Food Security Working Paper; b. Suggests a hedging mechanism in which farmers are ensured that the products are sold at a predetermined price so they can plan ahead with the revenues they will receive;

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c. The funding for the aforementioned projects shall be provided for by AOAD; 11. Ensures the presence of relevant education such as vocational education for inhabitants of rural areas funded by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development; 12. Urges Arab states to promote incentive structures that will encourage private sector business to assist in the training of teachers and cooperate with educational institutions, so as to facilitate the learning of skills that have economic value and are consistent with the demand of employers: a. The incentives for companies that are willing to train teachers and cooperate with educational institutions will consist of and are not limited to: i. tax exemptions, exemptions from administrative regulation, reduction of trade barriers that concern the company, all at the discretion of the decisions that would be made between the companies and the Arab states; b. The training of the teachers will focus on schools, public and private, that are secondary or greater; 13. Urges Arab states to expand vocational training by creating programs in each member state so as to give Arabs seeking work the skills demanded by employers: a. Provide regional loans and financial aid to students that seek vocational training; b. Allow students to receive greater amounts of financial aid and student loans if they choose to attend vocational training institutions that have been established at least a year before the date this resolution is passed: i. The amount that would be increased is at the discretion of the Arab states; c. Seek financial assistance from international and regional banking institutions such as and not limited to, Islamic Development Bank, African Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Arab World Initiative, Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development, Arab Monetary Fund: i. The financial assistance taken by members states will go towards exclusively providing financial aid and loans to students seeking vocational training; ii. It will be up to the discretion of member states on how to coordinate the disbursement of the financial assistance as long as it is in accordance with all provisions in this resolution and the Arab League; 14. Encourages the cooperation of Arab countries in creating programs that allow secondary school students to have better knowledge about the importance of vocational training and destroy misconceptions about vocational jobs; 15. Encourages Arab states to facilitate the employment of Arabs in skilled labor fields by compensating companies on the costs of hiring skilled Arab workers as well as reducing their costs through exemptions that concern costs related to the legislation of each member states: a. The compensation can come in the same manner as described in clause 1, subclause a.i; b. The compensation should also come in the form subsidizing a portion of the salary, up to the discretion of each member state and the amount they think is appropriate; 16. Calls upon Arab states to hire Arab workers in all fields, but especially unskilled labor by establishing incentives to do so;

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17. Calls for the formation or reformation of an independent educational committee within each member state in order to regulate the schooling system, which performs two functions: a. Regulates the quality of education by performing annual inspections based on the following criteria and other means at the discretion of the state: i. Diversification of subject areas; ii. Accommodating school facilities; iii. Evaluations of teachers and their methods; b. Oversees standardized national examinations in order to ensure that the examinations are carried out under settings that are strictly private and conducive to an appropriate examination environment; 18. Coordinates educational policy in order to establish vocational and college-preparatory tracks in secondary schooling: a. The two tracks will be decided through a standardized examination administered in between a secondary students second and third year; i. The college preparatory track will be suggested for those students who have demonstrated higher-level thought and skill-sets conducive to a college environment; ii. The vocational track will be suggested for students who demonstrate skillsets conducive to lower-skilled labor and will enhance skills in the industries, which will enhance the economy, such as, but not limited to: 1. Agriculture; 2. Manufacture; 3. Information Technology; b. Establishment of programs which address the needs of disabled children and programs that motivate gifted and talented students. 19. Advices that an incentive be provided for children in rural areas to enroll in schools by producing food stamps in return for childs participation in the school program.