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Council of Arab Economic Unity Meets in Khartoum, Discusses Food Security

A picture shows a view of The Nile river at the bridge of Tuti Island in the center of Sudan's capital Khartoum at sunset, on September 15, 2022. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of The Nile river at the bridge of Tuti Island in the center of Sudan's capital Khartoum at sunset, on September 15, 2022. (AFP)
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Council of Arab Economic Unity Meets in Khartoum, Discusses Food Security

A picture shows a view of The Nile river at the bridge of Tuti Island in the center of Sudan's capital Khartoum at sunset, on September 15, 2022. (AFP)
A picture shows a view of The Nile river at the bridge of Tuti Island in the center of Sudan's capital Khartoum at sunset, on September 15, 2022. (AFP)

The Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU) kicked off in Khartoum on Monday its 144th session with the participation of Arab ambassadors, representatives of Arab federations, and undersecretaries of ministries in Sudanese officials.

The Council will hold its meetings until next Thursday under the slogan "Towards Closer Cooperation to Sustain Arab Food Security."

Sudan's Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim said the meeting is being held under extraordinary economic circumstances due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian war, climate change and its impact on food supply chains, economic growth, unemployment, and other factors.

Ibrahim explained that the challenges require solidarity and joint efforts to counter their impact.

The Council played a role in coordinating and mobilizing efforts of the public and private sectors to collectively face these challenges, taking advantage of the available opportunities and resources to create an attractive environment for Arab and international investments, he added.

The minister noted that in light of the regional and global economic conditions, collective action was the only way to resolve the issues, stressing that the public sector alone cannot face these challenges.

He called for empowering the private sector to play its role in leading Arab economies and activating and representing the economic effort.

Ibrahim called on Arab countries to seize Sudan's unlimited opportunities and potential in agriculture, livestock, agricultural industrialization, and infrastructure related to food supply chains.

Sudan is fully prepared to receive investors and facilitate all obstacles, he stressed, calling on Arab countries to invest in electricity.

Meanwhile, CAEU Secretary General Ambassador Mohammadi Ahmadi al-Ni urged the Arab private sector to invest in Sudan, saying the Council is seeking to achieve Arab food security given the socioeconomic crises and climate changes.

Sudan has all the agricultural potential and expertise that qualifies it to provide food security in the Arab region.

He called for legislative reforms to address the obstacles that are hindering the Arab private sector and foreign investors and adopt policies to strengthen the national economy in partnership between the public and private sectors.

In November, the Arab League summit in Algeria adopted Sudan's food security initiative.

The Council is one of the specialized technical bodies that assist in the administrative work of the Arab League concerned with the complete economic unity of the Arab countries.

The Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU) was founded by Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Syria, UAE, and Yemen in 1964, following an agreement in 1957 by the Economic Council of the Arab League.

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FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
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ECB's Lagarde Renews Integration Call as Trade War Looms

FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo
FILE PHOTO: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Governor of the Bank of Finland Olli Rehn arrive at the non-monetary policy meeting of the ECB's Governing Council in Inari, Finnish Lapland, Finland February 22, 2023. Lehtikuva/Tarmo Lehtosalo via REUTERS//File Photo

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde renewed her call for economic integration across Europe on Friday, arguing that intensifying global trade tensions and a growing technology gap with the United States create fresh urgency for action.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to impose tariffs on most if not all imports and said Europe would pay a heavy price for having run a large trade surplus with the US for decades.
"The geopolitical environment has also become less favorable, with growing threats to free trade from all corners of the world," Lagarde said in a speech, without directly referring to Trump.
"The urgency to integrate our capital markets has risen."
While Europe has made some progress, EU members tend to water down most proposals to protect vested national interests to the detriment of the bloc as a whole, Reuters quoted Lagarde as saying.
But this is taking hundreds of billions if not trillions of euros out of the economy as households are holding 11.5 trillion euros in cash and deposits, and much of this is not making its way to the firms that need the funding.
"If EU households were to align their deposit-to-financial assets ratio with that of US households, a stock of up to 8 trillion euros could be redirected into long-term, market-based investments – or a flow of around 350 billion euros annually," Lagarde said.
When the cash actually enters the capital market, it often stays within national borders or leaves for the US in hope of better returns, Lagarde added.
Europe therefore needs to reduce the cost of investing in capital markets and must make the regulatory regime easier for cash to flow to places where it is needed the most.
A solution might be to create an EU-wide regulatory regime on top of the 27 national rules and certain issuers could then opt into this framework.
"To bypass the cumbersome process of regulatory harmonization, we could envisage a 28th regime for issuers of securities," Lagarde said. "They would benefit from a unified corporate and securities law, facilitating cross-border placement, holding and settlement."
Still, that would not solve the problem that few innovative companies set up shop in Europe, partly due to the lack of funding. So Europe must make it easier for investment to flow into venture capital and for banks to fund startups, she said.