President Obama has begun his administration by calling for better relations between the US and the Muslim world, based on “mutual interest and mutual respect”. Diplomacy in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan has been the administration’s first priority.
While diplomatic action is essential, so are stronger economic partnerships. The need is urgent, nowhere more so than in the Middle East. Across the region, a growing population of jobless young people sees no path to prosperity. At the same time, the US faces crippled capital markets and a massive trade deficit.
The Obama administration, the US business community, and their counterparts in the Middle East must turn the current economic crisis into a joint opportunity. By combining our resources and skills, we can improve education, reform regulations, create jobs, and promote trade across the region. And as we do, millions of people in the region and in the US will realise that they have far more to gain by building up business than by concentrating on our conflicts.
Many in the Middle East and in the US will greet this call with both scepticism and hope. In the region, many business leaders see US companies as ill-informed, unskilled at building long-term relationships, and too short-term in their thinking about economic opportunities. They also see the US government as providing too many subsidies that stifle business opportunities. Yet they recognise how significant US technology, managerial practices and market access can be in driving growth.
In the US, business leaders tend to view the region as a difficult place to operate: regulations are complex, favouritism is widespread, personal and operational security may be threatened and the labour force is not well prepared for high-productivity jobs. Historically, the oil sector has been seen as the major “play”, with little scope for innovation. But with the rising affluence and investment clout of the Gulf, and ongoing reforms that are improving the business climate in a number of countries, new opportunities are raising interest.
Today, Jordanian and Moroccan universities and businesses are partnering with the US Education for Employment Foundation, creating successful job training programmes that link graduates directly to employers. Egypt’s government is making rules for business registration and operation simpler and more transparent, with support from the US and other partners. In turn, US businesses are finding new opportunities to invest in Egypt. Jordan and Oman have signed free trade agreements with the US, with substantial economic gains for all. Masdar in Abu Dhabi has partnered with General Electric and other US companies in its alternative energy investments. And Coca-Cola’s distribution franchise in the West Bank, the National Bottling Company, has been one of the largest Palestinian employers during the past decade.
US and regional business partners are establishing networks and forums to build longer-term relationships. The American Chambers of Commerce in the region have become important meeting points for local entrepreneurs to deepen their connection with US business partners and practices.
These and many other partnerships point the way to a future where government, business and civil society across the Middle East and in the US work in close collaboration to produce joint economic gains.
The current economic crisis raises the stakes – and the potential benefits – for stronger partnerships. Gulf states’ sovereign wealth funds and private capital have become a critical engine for sustaining the world economy. The region has a large and growing pool of potentially high productivity workers, and a strategic location for European and Asian markets. The US maintains the world’s greatest concentration of innovative talent in many sectors, from biotech and IT to building design, and its largest consumer market.
Along with more than 30 other participants in the Leadership Group on US-Muslim Engagement, we have called for the Obama administration and US business leaders to take full advantage of these opportunities by deepening economic relations with the Middle East and the broader Muslim world.
As a first step, the Leadership Group recommends that the administration and partners in the region co-convene a high level business-government summit to launch a joint initiative for job-creating growth. We see the summit as a way to focus both governments and entrepreneurs on an agenda of economic policy reform, education for employment, and business partnerships to generate jobs and profits within the region and in the US.
Creating a more peaceful future for the US and the Middle East will require not only diplomacy, but also development throughout the region. Now is the time to invest in a reform, jobs and growth agenda that can benefit us all.
By Daniel Christman and David Fairman - The National
Lt Gen Daniel Christman (US Army, retired) is the senior vice president for international affairs at the US Chamber of Commerce and a member of the leadership group on US Muslim engagement. David Fairman is managing director at the Consensus Building Institute and co-director of the US Muslim Engagement project.
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