Class Visit 23/10/2011 to Emirates Palace

We the elite class, CE1 visited the GCC Economic and Financial Integration Forum (Opportunities and Challenges) with Mr. Hedley on the morning of Sunday 23^rd October. We registered and listened to the opening and welcoming speeches.

The first speech was about economic and financial integration and international experiences; it started at 9:30 to 11:00 am and was chaired by Dr. Jassim Al Mannai.

The first speaker was Dr Abdul Aziz Aluwaisheg. He spoke in English and he talked mainly about the historical developments and agreements made in recent years by GCC countries in their pursuit of freeing up trade and reducing tariffs in the GCC zone.

The second speaker was Lukas Stemitsiotis, and he addressed the problems and challenges facing the Eurozone. These problems at the moment, centring on Greece and the possibility of a Greek default on its debt, are particularly acute and the Eurozone countries are still struggling to find a solution.

The third speaker was Dr Aladdin Rillo, He spoke of the experiences of the Association of South East Asian Nations. He mentioned ASEAN’s Mutual Recognition Arrangements,. He pointed out that ASEAN was different to the EU and the GCC in that 50% of ASEAN GDP is provided by the service sector. He said that his goal was integration of capital markets, rather than a single currency. He pointed out that it was difficult for developed countries like Brunei and Singapore to share a currency with undeveloped countries like Laos and Cambodia. He said that in ASEAN the emphasis is on a single market and integration with the global economy. He stressed the importance of connectivity and equable economic development. He suggested that ASEAN was concentrating on integration of trade, while the GCC was leaning towards integration of finances. He was the briefest of the speakers and perhaps the one who dealt most with practicality rather than ideas and ideals.

The speech closed with a general discussion which proved to be more of a number of isolated statements rather than a genuine debate.