JYK Arab Countries New Economy

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.