Beth: On behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, His Excellency the Saudi Minister of Finance, Mr. Mohammed Al-Jadaan, inaugurated the joint annual meetings of the Arab Financial Institutions in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia today. The meeting brought together Arab Ministers of Finance and Economy, chairmen of the councils of Arab Financial Institutions, governors of Arab Central Banks, directors of Arab Funding Institutions, representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, as well as the Islamic Development Bank Group, and experts and specialists in the financial and economic fields.

The meetings focused on the financial institutions role in providing financial and technical support for major development projects in the Arab countries and their contributions to support joint Arab action. They discussed a number of topics to meet the challenges facing Arab countries, and the innovative initiatives and projects proposed within the working papers submitted by Arab financial bodies. They also reviewed the financial and operational performance of the institutions, and the approval of the financing and investment operations programs for the year 2022.

In his opening speech, the Minister of Finance welcomed all participants, and conveyed the greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his congratulations on the holy month of Ramadan.  He confirmed that the Kingdom will continue to support joint Arab action, contribute to the development of economic relations between Arab countries through regional development institutions, pointing that the Kingdom is ready to extend a helping hand to confront emergency and humanitarian crises and support development, economic and social efforts in Arab countries in all international fora.

His Excellency explained that many Arab countries have begun to recover from the impact of the pandemic and return to growth paths, noting that, according to Arab Monetary Fund estimates, it is expected that the growth rate of Arab economies will witness a rise in 2022 to record about 5%, compared to 2.9% for the recorded growth in 2021. The growth is driven by many factors, including the relative improvement in global demand levels, high growth rates in the oil and gas sectors, and the continued adoption of stimulus packages by Arab governments to support economic recovery.

Al-Jadaan also indicated that the Kingdom has overcome the impact of the pandemic, as a result of the rapid response and the unprecedented measures taken by the Kingdom to support economic activity, which were estimated at 13.9%of GDP. The achievements in the field of information technology and digital transformation that the Kingdom started in 2016 as part of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 have also helped to contain the pandemic and quickly return to normal life.

On climate change, Al-Jadaan explained that the Kingdom has realized the importance of intensive efforts in order to meet this common challenge, and has presented qualitative initiatives of interest to the region and the world at large, most notably the Saudi Green Initiative, the Middle East Green Initiative, and the Circular Carbon Economy (CCE) approach. The CCE contributes to achieving international goals to reduce climate change and carbon emissions as well as supporting the stability of economic growth. Al-Jadaan called on Arab Financial Institutions to take advantage of the CCE approach which was endorsed by the G20 Leaders during the Kingdom’s Presidency in 2020.

Al-Jadaan added that the Kingdom appreciates the leading role of Arab financial institutions in supporting economic and social development in Arab countries, and commends the initiatives taken by the institutions in the field of rehabilitating the capabilities of youth and human capital development, as well as supporting SME’s to provide job opportunities, in addition to their interest in science, technology and innovation sector and its uses in Financial technology and the promotion of financial inclusion for youth, women, SMEs and micro enterprises.

Al-Jadaan called on the leaders of the Arab financial institutions to review the work strategies and directions in light of global changes and in accordance with the requirements of our region and the citizens within a framework that considers priorities and needs, and objectively measures potential returns.

It is worth noting that side meetings of Arab finance ministers were held on the sidelines of the annual meetings to discuss financial and economic issues of common interest and exchange views on them. The latest developments on the financial and economic levels were also discussed, and the positions of Arab countries was coordinated with international financial organizations, particularly the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, in addition to leveraging the experiences and expertise in the field of economic reforms and financial policies. Finally, the latest developments in G20 work were reviewed by the Saudi Minister of Finance.