JYK Arab Countries New Economy
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Hello everyone.
Welcome to this important conference
focused on how youth, technology and finance can create
a new economy for Arab countries.
I'm excited about this conference.
because it will lead us to a positive
and promising look at the Middle East and North Africa.
The energy of the regions youth
combined with innovation and new technologies,
can overcome violence, radicalism
and economic stagnation.
Your discussions will be critical
because over the next few decades it will become more
and more important to find new drivers
of economic growth.
Over the next 30 years,
roughly 133 million seniors in the Middle East
and North Africa will leave the job market.
But nearly 300 million youth will enter it.
Countries in the region will need to create 164 million
new jobs just to keep pace.
That's on top of the jobs needed to absorb
the 15 million youth who are currently unemployed,
and this is not a problem for the future.
The region needs 10 million jobs in the next two years.
Seven-hundred thousand in Algeria alone.
The good news is that the digital economy in the Middle East
and North Africa is in its infancy.
Young people across the region
have smartphones and access to the internet,
but relatively few are using those tools
to become digital entrepreneurs.
Success stories like Korean,
the ride-sharing company that operates
in more than a hundred cities
across 14 countries
and is valued at more than one billion dollars
or Souk, the e-commerce platform that Amazon bought
for more than half a billion dollars.
So the enormous possibilities for digital commerce
in the region, but we also know that it can be difficult
to get financing or hire a workforce with the right skills
or deal with nepotism that still too common in many places.
At the World Bank group,
we're working with governments
across the region to put the right policies in place,
that support digital entrepreneurs,
and prepare today's students
with technical skills they will need for tomorrow.
We're working with platforms such as Upwork, Udemy
and Soutel to train young people in digital skills
and connect them with jobs.
With the right training,
young people are building technologies
that can lower costs and help reduce disparities
in living standards across the region.
But to truly drive the digital economy
and ensure the Middle East
and North Africa reaches its full potential,
we need you.
We need your ideas, your passion,
and your creativity.
That's why the next two days are so important.
Your discussions can help harness the power
of the internet and data.
Create new startups and platforms
and drive the direction of the new economy
in the months and years to come.
Thank you for being part of this important discussion.
I look forward to hearing the results
and to continuing this partnership
to create a new digital economy
for all Arab countries,
and a bright future for its young generations.