Dubai School of Government hosted a half day conference on Public policy and the downturn yesterday. "Ok, so what?" you ask . The big deal about this conference is that it is one of the few conferences in UAE ( or rather Middle East), where there was OPEN and frank debate and also criticism of certain government reforms and policies of certain governments. The agenda was to identify the role of governments in managing the current global economic downturn and also leveraging it for success in the future.
There is a growing awareness in the Middle Eastern countries that one needs to create open platforms for debate and discussion, so there is at least a semblance of "democratic institutions", though many of them are working towards it. This forum was an attempt to foster this culture of discussion, debate and knowledge exchange.
Here are some notes from the speakers, some of them ministers and heads of national/ international bodies.
Nabil Al Yousef, Vice Chair, DSG, Member, Board of trustees :
The region is facing the economic crisis as other countries, All arab countries have been affected. Both oil and non-oil exporting countries. Both public policy reforms as well as others are being questioned in terms of upgrading the performance. In the light of these challenges how do we steer our resources in order to make use of them and make the best gains possible will determine our future.
Dr Zuhair M’dhaffar :, Minister delegate to the PM, Tunisia
I would like to focus on the Tunisian experience . Public policy needs a long-term vision of the future , and I think the financial crisis is a test for all countries since all countries have been affected, both rich and poor. All studies have concerned that growth will be slow in western countries. In recent visits to the head of the World bank, the institution said that most countries will be affected till 2010. 80% of the Tunisian exports are aimed at Europe, so naturally we have been hit hard too.
We have 3000 foreign companies in Tunisia. How did Tunisia deal with the crisis ?
From the very early beginnings of the crisis in 2007, the president of Tunisia has initiated an alert committee to monitor the crisis. End of 2008, they started to make suggestions and deal with the crisis in a more practical way. The decisions taken included : A financial management plan with – to aid the companies which are facing major companies to help them through the crisis. In the beginning of 2009, they passed a law to encourage companies to increase their exports and taking into consideration companies participation in social 25 Mn . Tunisian dinar fund was set up and decreasing VAT and parallel trade.
Structural adjustment changes have been taken too in the budget. The development budget has been increased by 20% and infrastructure – vehicle manufacture and power .
Dr Maher Al Mujtahed , Secretary General, Cabinet of Ministers, Syria
I am thankful to the Dubai govt. and I am pleased to be here as we are great friends of UAE. I will give some suggestions and ideas on how to deal with the crisis. As you know most governments are in the process of reforms in the recent past and this comes in line with so many changes we have seen in the last quarter of the 20th century due to geo-political and tech changes and emergence of new concepts of globalization and public-private partnerships as well as communication tech.
These changes have challenged us to make changes. There have been many negative issues due to globalization. We need to look for new ways of management and also upgrade of public performance. There are new concepts related to these challenges and one of them is good governance : the performance of public sector and how they can serve the community better. De-centralisation, simplification of procedures, transparency and public financial management and public-private partnerships and active role of NGOs’ and contributing to economic development. The concept of good governance is not new actually. Most countries are doing well in the Arab world. This requires us to integrate the past efforts .
Julian Hawkins, Senior Partner, Deloitte
Govts. Around the world face similar issues. Although each govt. has similar macro response and each will react uniquely.
I would also highlight this from a consultant’s perspective. Our guide “ Turning the tide” provides a perspective from our end. I believe there are a set of actions need to be taken. In either case , the critical issue is to manage change. I will focus on 3 actions :
1. Allying policy change with program and procedures : Provide real leadership when those developing public services. Eg. My personal work in working in immigration department. This gives confidence in the department as well as people
2. Make sure one is in control : Systems and procedures which work in normal times may not work well in turbuiletn times. The systems may change and need to be able to adapt. Eg. In our experience in dealing with payments – speedy
3. Take the hard decisions – It does require tough decisions to ensure that we do the right thing, not anything that will guarantee short-term gains.
