ANKARA/AMMAN: Turkey will send more troops into Syria’s Idlib province after striking a deal with Russia that has averted a government offensive and delighted rebels who said it kept the area out of President Bashar Assad’s hands.
The deal unveiled on Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Assad’s most powerful ally, and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will create a demilitarised zone from which “radical” rebels must withdraw by the middle of next month.
Damascus also welcomed the agreement but vowed to continue its efforts to recover “every inch” of Syria. Iran, Assad’s other main ally, said that “responsible diplomacy” had averted a war in Idlib “with a firm commitment to fight extremist terror.”
The agreement halted a threatened Syrian government offensive. The United Nations had warned such an attack would create a humanitarian catastrophe in the Idlib region, home to about 3 million people.
The Idlib region and adjoining territory north of Aleppo represent the opposition’s last big foothold in Syria. Assad has recovered most of the areas once held by the rebels, with decisive military support from Iran and Russia.
But his plans to recover the northwest have been complicated by Turkey’s role on the ground. It has soldiers at 12 locations in Idlib and supplies weapons to some of the rebels.
Erdogan had feared another exodus of refugees to join the 3.5 million already in Turkey, and warned against any attack.
In striking the deal, Russia appears — at least for now — to have put its ties with Turkey ahead of advancing the goal of bringing all Syria back under Assad’s rule.
That goal is also obstructed by the presence of US forces in the quarter of Syria east of the Euphrates that is held by an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, and at a base near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis played down any notion the Turkey-Russia agreement had resolved the situation in Idlib.
“Idlib is one of the most complex problems in a complex theater (of conflict) right now. So I’m quite sure it’s not all sorted,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon.
Analysts cautioned that implementation of the deal faced big challenges, notably how to separate extremists from other rebels — a goal Ankara has been struggling to achieve.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the “moderate opposition” would keep its weapons and the “region will be cleared of radicals.” Turkey would “make additional troop deployments” and its 12 observation posts would remain.
The deal was “very important for the political resolution in Syria.” “If this (Idlib) had been lost too, there would be no opposition anymore,” he said.
Mustafa Sejari, a Free Syria Army (FSA) official, said the deal “buries Assad’s dreams of imposing his full control over Syria.”
Yahya Al-Aridi, spokesman for the opposition Syrian Negotiations Commission, expressed hope a government offensive was now off the table for good.
The Syrian government, in a statement published by state media, said it welcomed any agreement that spared blood. It also said the deal had a specific time frame, which it did not detail.
“I see it as a test of the extent of Turkey’s ability to implement this decision,” Ali Abdul Karim, Syria’s ambassador to Lebanon, said in an interview with Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed TV. “We do not trust Turkey ... but it’s useful for Turkey to be able to carry out this fight to rid these groups from their weapons.”
’Catastrophe averted’
Moscow said the deal “confirmed the ability of both Moscow and Ankara to compromise ... in the interests of the ultimate goal of a Syrian settlement by political and diplomatic means.”
“Is this merely a stay of execution? Or is it the beginning of a reprieve?” UN aid chief Mark Lowcock asked during a monthly meeting of the UN Security Council on Syria.
The demilitarised zone will be monitored by Russian and Turkish forces, the countries’ leaders said.
Neither Russia nor Turkey has explained how it plans to differentiate “radically minded” rebels from other anti-Assad groups. It was also not immediately clear how much of the city of Idlib fell within the zone.
Putin said the decision was to establish by Oct. 15 a demilitarised area 15 to 20 km (10-12 miles) deep along the contact line between rebel and government fighters.
Naji Abu Hufaiza, spokesman for the National Front for Liberation, said he did not have details of the agreement, but added that while he saw it as a success for Turkish diplomacy, his group did not trust Russia to uphold it.
Idlib is held by an array of rebels. The most powerful is Tahrir Al-Sham, an amalgamation of Islamist groups dominated by the former Nusra Front — an Al-Qaeda affiliate until 2016.
Other Islamists, and groups fighting as the Free Syrian Army banner, are now gathered with Turkish backing under the banner of the “National Front for Liberation.”
The area is also the last major haven for foreign extremists who came to Syria to fight the Alawite-led Assad government.
Putin said that, at Erdogan’s suggestion, by Oct. 10, all opposition heavy weapons, mortars, tanks, rocket systems would also be removed from the demilitarised zone.
Earlier this month, Putin publicly rebuffed a proposal from Erdogan for a truce when the two met along with Iran’s president at a summit in Tehran.
Syria’s Idlib spared attack, Turkey to send in more troops
Syria’s Idlib spared attack, Turkey to send in more troops
- Damascus also welcomed the agreement but vowed to continue its efforts to recover “every inch” of Syria
- The Idlib region and adjoining territory north of Aleppo represent the opposition’s last big foothold in Syria
Buttler rejects calls for England to boycott Afghanistan match
- Captain Jos Buttler says England’s match against Afghanistan at the Champions Trophy should go ahead after calls for a boycott over the Taliban regime’s assault on women’s rights
A group of more than 160 British politicians have written to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) calling for England not to play the match in Lahore on February 26.
Since returning to power in 2021 the Taliban have effectively banned the participation of women in both sport and broader public life.
That puts the Afghanistan Cricket Board at odds with the rules of governing body the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Buttler said sports and politics should be kept separate.
“Political situations like this, as a player you’re trying to be as informed as you can be,” he told reporters ahead of the first T20 against India in Kolkata on Wednesday.
“The experts know a lot more about it, so I’ve been trying to stay in dialogue with Rob Key (managing director of ECB) and the guys above to see how they see it.
“I don’t think a boycott is the way to go about it,” he added.
“Certainly as a player, you don’t want political situations to affect sport. We hope to go to the Champions Trophy and play that game and have a really good tournament.”
The ECB have resisted calls for a boycott, with chief executive Richard Gould saying instead he would “actively advocate” for collective action by the ICC instead.
The ICC have allowed the Afghanistan men’s team to keep competing in global competitions.
England are clubbed with Afghanistan, Australia and South Africa in the group phase of the Champions Trophy, which begins on February 19.
Mittens the cat becomes an accidental frequent flyer after getting mistakenly left on a plane
- A Maine coon cat named Mittens accidentally flew three times between New Zealand and Australia this month after her cage was mistakenly left in the plane’s cargo hold
WELLINGTON: A Maine coon cat named Mittens became an accidental jetsetter this month when her cage was overlooked in a plane cargo hold and she made three trips in 24 hours between New Zealand and Australia.
Mittens, 8, was booked for one-way travel with her family from Christchurch, New Zealand to their new home in Melbourne, Australia on Jan. 13. But owner Margo Neas said Wednesday that as she waited for Mittens to be unloaded from the plane’s freight area, three hours passed with no sign of the cat.
It was then that ground staff told Neas the plane had returned to New Zealand — with Mittens still on board. The return trip involves about 7.5 hours in the air.
“I said, how can this happen? How can this happen? Oh my God,” Neas said.
The Air New Zealand pilot was told of the extra passenger during the flight and turned on the heating in the cargo hold to keep Mittens comfortable, she added. Neas was told that a stowed wheelchair had obscured a baggage handler’s view of Mittens’ cage.
“It was not a great start to our new life in Melbourne because we didn’t have the family, we weren’t complete,” she said.
But the saga had a happy ending. The pet moving company that Neas used to arrange Mittens’ travel met the cat on her return to Christchurch and ensured she was back on the plane for another trip to Melbourne — this time just one way.
Mittens had lost weight but was otherwise unharmed.
“She basically just ran into my arms and just snuggled up in here and just did the biggest cuddles of all time,” Neas said. “It was just such a relief.”
Air New Zealand would reimburse all costs associated with Mittens’ travel and has apologized for the distress caused, the airline said in a statement.
“We’ll work closely with our ground handler in Melbourne to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” said spokesperson Alisha Armstrong.
Meanwhile Mittens, not usually an affectionate pet, is “the cuddliest she’s ever been,” said Neas.
“The cat gets as much attention as she wants right now because we’re just so absolutely and utterly relieved to have her back.”
Syria’s southern rebels loom large as the country’s new rulers try to form a national army
- Syria’s interim rulers are trying to form a united national army after the fall of Bashar Assad late last year
NAWA:As insurgents raced across Syria in a surprise offensive launched in the country’s northwest late last year, officials from several countries backing either the rebels or Syria’s government met in Qatar on what to do.
According to people briefed on the Dec. 7 meeting, officials from Turkiye, Russia, Iran and a handful of Arab countries agreed that the insurgents would stop their advance in Homs, the last major city north of Damascus, and that internationally mediated talks would take place with Syrian leader Bashar Assad on a political transition.
But insurgent factions from Syria’s south had other plans. They pushed toward the capital, arriving in Damascus’ largest square before dawn. Insurgents from the north, led by the Islamist group Hayyat Tahrir Al-Sham, arrived hours later. Assad, meanwhile, had fled.
HTS, the most organized of the groups, has since established itself as Syria’s de facto rulers after coordinating with the southern fighters during the lighting-fast offensive.
Wariness among the southern factions since then, however, has highlighted questions over how the interim administration can bring together a patchwork of former rebel groups, each with their own leaders and ideology.
HTS leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa has called for a unified national army and security forces. The interim defense minister, Murhaf Abu Qasra, has begun meeting with armed groups. But some prominent leaders like southern rebel commander Ahmad Al-Awda have refused to attend.
Officials with the interim government did not respond to questions.
Cradle of the revolution
The southern province of Daraa is widely seen as the cradle of the Syrian uprising in 2011. When anti-government protests were met with repression by Assad’s security forces, “we were forced to carry weapons,” said Mahmoud Al-Bardan, a rebel leader there.
The rebel groups that formed in the south had different dynamics from those in the north, less Islamist and more localized, said Aron Lund, a fellow with the Century International think tank. They also had different backers.
“In the north, Turkiye and Qatar favored Islamist factions very heavily,” he said. “In the south, Jordanian and American involvement nudged the insurgency in a different direction.”
In 2018, factions in Daraa reached a Russian-mediated “reconciliation agreement” with Assad’s government. Some former fighters left for Idlib, the destination for many from areas recaptured by government forces, while others remained.
The deal left many southern factions alive and armed, Lund said.
“We only turned over the heavy weapons … the light weapons remained with us,” Al-Bardan said.
When the HTS-led rebel groups based in the north launched their surprise offensive last year in Aleppo, those weapons were put to use again. Factions in the southern provinces of Daraa, Sweida and Quneitra reactivated, forming a joint operations room to coordinate with northern ones.
Defying international wishes
On Dec. 7, “we had heard from a number of parties that there might be an agreement that … no one would enter Damascus so there could be an agreement on the exit of Bashar Assad or a transitional phase,” said Nassim Abu Ara, an official with one of the largest rebel factions in the south, the 8th Brigade of Al-Awda.
However, “we entered Damascus and turned the tables on these agreements,” he said.
Al-Bardan confirmed that account, asserting that the agreement “was binding on the northern factions” but not the southern ones.
“Even if they had ordered us to stop, we would not have,” he said, reflecting the eagerness among many fighters to remove Assad as soon as possible.
Ammar Kahf, executive director of the Istanbul-based Omran Center for Strategic Studies, who was in Doha on Dec. 7 and was briefed on the meetings, said there was an agreement among countries’ officials that the rebels would stop their offensive in Homs and go to Geneva for negotiations on “transitional arrangements.”
But Kahf said it was not clear that any Syrian faction, including HTS, agreed to the plan. Representatives of countries at the meeting did not respond to questions.
A statement released by the foreign ministers of Turkiye, Russia, Iran, Qatari, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq after the Dec. 7 meeting said they “stressed the need to stop military operations in preparation for launching a comprehensive political process” but did not give specifics.
The initial hours after armed groups’ arrival in Damascus were chaotic. Observers said the HTS-led forces tried to re-impose order when they arrived. An Associated Press journalist saw an argument break out when HTS fighters tried to stop members of another faction from taking abandoned army munitions.
Abu Ara acknowledged that “there was some chaos” but added, “we have to understand that these people were pent-up and suddenly they achieved the joy of victory in this manner.”
Waiting for a state
During a visit by AP journalists to the western countryside of Daraa province this month, there was no visible presence of HTS forces.
At one former Syrian army site, a fighter with the Free Syrian Army, the main faction in the area, stood guard in jeans and a camouflage shirt. Other local fighters showed off a site where they were storing tanks abandoned by the former army.
“Currently these are the property of the new state and army,” whenever it is formed, said one fighter, Issa Sabaq.
The process of forming those has been bumpy.
On New Year’s Eve, factions in the Druze-majority city of Sweida in southern Syria blocked the entry of a convoy of HTS security forces who had arrived without giving prior notice.
Ahmed Aba Zeid, a Syrian researcher who has studied the southern insurgent groups, said some of the factions have taken a wait-and-see approach before they agree to dissolve and hand over their weapons to the state.
Local armed factions are still the de facto security forces in many areas.
Earlier this month, the new police chief in Daraa city appointed by the HTS-led government, Badr Abdel Hamid, joined local officials in the town of Nawa to discuss plans for a police force there.
Hamid said there had been “constructive and positive cooperation” with factions in the region, adding the process of extending the “state’s influence” takes time.
Abu Ara said factions are waiting to understand their role. “Will it be a strong army, or a border guard army, or is it for counterterrorism?” he asked.
Still, he was optimistic that an understanding will be reached.
“A lot of people are afraid that there will be a confrontation, that there won’t be integration or won’t be an agreement,” he said. “But we want to avoid this at all costs, because our country is very tired of war.”
Hamas’ tight grip on Gaza complicates plan for lasting peace
- Hamas maintains control over Gaza’s administration and security forces
- Israel faces dilemma with Hamas’ entrenched power in Gaza
CAIRO: In neighborhoods levelled by 15 months of war with Israel, Hamas officials are overseeing the clearance of rubble in the wake of Sunday’s ceasefire. The group’s gunmen are guarding aid convoys on Gaza’s dusty roads, and its blue-uniformed police once again patrol city streets, sending a clear message: Hamas remains in charge.
Israeli officials have described a parade of jubilant Hamas fighters that celebrated the ceasefire on Sunday in front of cheering crowds as a carefully orchestrated attempt to exaggerate the Palestinian militant group’s strength.
But, in the days since the ceasefire took effect, Gaza’s Hamas-run administration has moved quickly to reimpose security, to curb looting, and to start restoring basic services to parts of the enclave, swathes of which have been reduced to wasteland by the Israeli offensive.
Reuters spoke to more than a dozen residents, officials, regional diplomats and security experts who said that, despite Israel’s vow to destroy it, Hamas remains deeply entrenched in Gaza and its hold on power represents a challenge to implementing a permanent ceasefire.
The Islamist group not only controls Gaza’s security forces, but its administrators run ministries and government agencies, paying salaries for employees and coordinating with international NGOs, they said.
On Tuesday, its police and gunmen – who for months were kept off the streets by Israeli airstrikes – were stationed in neighborhoods through the Strip.
“We want to prevent any kind of security vacuum,” said Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office. He said that some 700 police were protecting aid convoys and not a single truck had been looted since Sunday – a contrast to the massive theft of food by criminal gangs during the conflict.
A spokesperson for the United Nations in Geneva confirmed on Tuesday there had been no reports of looting or attacks on aid workers since the ceasefire took effect.
In recent weeks, Israeli airstrikes have targeted lower-ranking administrators in Gaza, in an apparent bid to break Hamas’ grip on government. Israel had already eliminated Hamas’ leadership, including political chief Ismail Haniyeh and the architects of the Oct. 7 attack, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.
Despite the losses, Al-Thawabta said the Hamas-run administration continued to function. “Currently, we have 18,000 employees working daily to provide services to citizens,” he said.
The Hamas-run municipalities had begun on Sunday clearing the rubble from some roads to vehicles to pass, while workers repaired pipes and infrastructure to restore running water to neighborhoods. On Tuesday, dozens of heavy trucks ferried debris from destroyed buildings along the enclave’s dusty main arteries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not articulated a vision for Gaza’s postwar future beyond insisting the Islamist group can play no role and stating that the Palestinian Authority – a body set up under the Oslo peace accords three decades ago that partially administers the occupied West Bank — also cannot be trusted under its current leadership. The Israeli government did not respond to Reuters’ questions.
Joost Hiltermann, of the International Crisis Group, said Hamas’ firm grip on Gaza presented Israel with a dilemma.
“Israel has a choice, to continue fighting in the future and killing people — and that hasn’t worked in the past 15 months — or it can allow an arrangement where the Palestinian Authority takes control with Hamas’ acquiescence,” Hiltermann said.
Hamas’ military capability is hard to assess because its rocket arsenal remains hidden and many of its best trained fighters may have been killed, Hiltermann said, but it remains by far the dominant armed group in Gaza: “Nobody is talking about the PA taking over Gaza without Hamas’ consent.”
While senior Hamas officials have expressed support for a unity government, Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority and a longtime adversary of Hamas, has not given his assent. Abbas’s office and the Palestinian Authority did not respond to a request for comment.
Fresh negotiations
Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel must withdraw its troops from central Gaza and permit the return of Palestinians to the north during an initial six-week phase, in which some hostages will be released. Starting from the 16th day of the ceasefire, the two sides should negotiate a second phase, expected to include a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops. Reconstruction, expected to cost billions of dollars and last for years, would only begin in a third and final phase.
The deal has divided opinion in Israel. While there was widespread celebration of the return of the first three hostages on Sunday, many Israelis want to see Hamas destroyed for its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage.
Even before the ceasefire took effect, members of Netanyahu’s cabinet said they favored returning to war to remove Hamas from power, once hostages have returned home. Three far-right ministers resigned.
“There is no future of peace, stability and security for both sides if Hamas stays in power in the Gaza Strip,” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Sunday.
A spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, Abu Ubaida, told Reuters the militant group would honor the terms of the ceasefire and urged Israel to do the same.
Fifteen months of war have left Gaza a wasteland of rubble, bombed-out buildings and makeshift encampments, with hundreds of thousands of desperate people sheltering from the winter cold and living on whatever aid can reach them. More than 46,000 people have been killed, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The ceasefire deal calls for 600 trucks of aid per day to reach Gaza. Al-Thawabta, the spokesman for the Hamas-run administration, said it was liaising with UN bodies and international relief organizations about security for aid routes and warehouses, but the agencies were handling the distribution of aid.
A UN damage assessment released this month showed that just clearing away the more than 50 million tons of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.
On Sunday, as Hamas’ security forces paraded on the streets, some residents had expressed pride that it had survived the onslaught.
“Name me one country that could withstand Israel’s war-machine for 15 months,” said Salah Abu Rezik, a 58-year-old factory worker. He praised Hamas for helping to distribute aid to hungry Gazans during the conflict and trying to enforce a measure of security.
“Hamas is an idea and you can’t kill an idea,” Abu Rezik said, predicting the group would rebuild.
Others voiced anger that Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack had brought destruction to Gaza.
“We had homes and hotels and restaurants. We had a life. Today we have nothing, so what kind of a victory is this?” said Ameen, 30, a Gaza City civil engineer, displaced in Khan Younis. “When the war stops, Hamas must not rule Gaza alone.”
No rivals
While the Palestinian Authority says it is the only authority with the legitimacy to govern post-war Gaza, it has no presence in the enclave and little popular support, polls show.
Since 2007, when Hamas drove out the Palestinian Authority dominated by the rival faction Fatah after a brief civil war, it has crushed opposition in Gaza. Supported by funds from Iran, it built a feared security apparatus and a military organization based around a vast network of tunnels — much of which Israel says it destroyed during the war.
Israel floated tentative ideas for post-war Gaza, including coopting local clan leaders — a number of whom were immediately assassinated by Hamas — or using members of Gazan civil society with no militant ties to run the enclave. But none has gained any traction.
Key donors, including the United Arab Emirates and US President Donald Trump’s new administration, have stressed that Hamas — which is designated as a terrorist organization by many Western countries — cannot remain in power in Gaza after the war. Diplomats have been discussing models involving international peacekeepers, including one that would see the United Arab Emirates and the United States, along with other nations, temporarily overseeing governance, security and reconstruction of Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority is able to take charge.
Another model, supported by Egypt, would see a joint committee made up of both Fatah and Hamas run Gaza under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority.
Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer now at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies in Tel Aviv, described Hamas’ public willingness to discuss a unity government as “cosmetic.”
“As long as they are behind the scenes, handling matters, they don’t care that there will be a committee as a front,” he said.
On Monday, shortly after taking office, Trump expressed skepticism about the Gaza ceasefire deal, when asked if he was confident that all three phases of the agreement would be implemented. He didn’t elaborate further.
A spokesperson for the Trump camp did not respond to a request for comment.
WEF panelists call for systemic policy shifts to help developing countries out of global debt crisis
WEF panelists call for systemic policy shifts to help developing countries out of global debt crisis
- At World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, they urge governments and lenders to take shared actions to build strong, resilient economies and relieve debt burdens
- Developing countries have accrued twice as much debt since 2010 compared with those in the developed world
DUBAI: The international community must devise ways to help nations in the developing world out of the global debt crisis and safeguard societies from the long-term effects of economic stagnation.
This was the message from a panel of experts during a discussion at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos on Tuesday. Amid global transformations and ongoing uncertainty, they called for shifts in domestic and global monetary policies to provide relief for countries with debt burdens, and for governments and lenders to take shared actions to help build strong and resilient economies.
An International Monetary Fund report published in October stated that global pubic debt was expected to exceed $100 trillion during 2024, representing about 93 percent of global gross domestic product. Developing countries have accrued twice as much debt since 2010 compared with those in the developed world, according to UN figures..
The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and unprecedented hikes in interest rates have compounded this debt crisis in some countries, potentially jeopardizing the futures of generations to come and slowing global progress.
Rebeca Grynspan, the secretary-general of UN Trade and Development, called for change at a systemic level to help countries take proactive steps to avoid debt problems in an ever-changing world.
“The developing world has half the debt that developed world has, the problem is paying for it,” she said.
“Firstly, we should avoid a liquidity problem becoming a debt problem. We have instruments that we don’t use in the international system, like special drawing rights.
“Secondly, the developing countries need long-term loans. If you go for infrastructure, you really want to grow, you need long-term money.”
For a monumental shift to take place, multilateral development banks need to scale up, take risks and crowd in private investment, Grynspan added.
About 3.3 billion people live in countries that spend more servicing debt than they do on education or health, according to a report published by the UN in July 2023.
“Markets are not in crisis but people are,” said Grynspan. “We don’t have a debt fault, but we have a development fault and that in turn will come to hunt us because if you cannot have growth in these countries, then we will not be able to get onto a sustainable path.”
Andre Esteves, chairperson and senior partner of Brazilian financial company Banco BTG Pactual, warned that a trade war between US and China during Donald Trump’s second term as president might affect other countries. However, he also highlighted positive indicators among the policies of the new administration in Washington.
“The whole idea of more fiscal discipline, ranging from deregulation and private-sector growth,” he said by way of examples. “But there needs to be the core of regulatory framework, otherwise it would be a bad move.”
As the debt crisis fuels power imbalances, dominance is expected to skew toward China, said Simon Freakley, the chairperson and CEO at global consulting firm AlixPartners.
“In today’s world, where developing countries are struggling to pay back their debt, they need to borrow more,” he noted, adding that China is able to exert significant influence as its capital markets are wide open to commodity-rich countries unwilling to borrow more money or service a debt.
Rania Al-Mashat, Egypt’s minister of planning, economic development and international cooperation, said macroeconomic stability needs to be coupled with structural reforms that improve the business environment to attract investment, reduce burdens and support the green transition.
Amid escalating conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa region, policies must be adopted to help mitigate the effects of various types of shocks, she added. For example, an IMF-supported Egyptian program was approved in December 2022 with the aim of achieving macroeconomic stability and encouraging private-sector-led growth.
“The manufacturing sector could benefit from inflows there,” Al-Mashat said. “We are also trying to put stringent ceilings on public investment so that the private sector can come in. All of these are drivers for growth financing for development.”
She called for a rethinking of global financial architecture to help more middle-income, emerging economies find alternative financing, such as debt swaps, for climate action or development.
Mohammed Aurangzeb, Pakistan’s minister of finance and revenue, warned of the long-term effects of economic stagnation. He said his country this month entered into a 10-year partnership with World Bank Group to address the issues of climate change and population.
“Population means child stunting, learning poverty and girls out of school,” he says. “There’s also climate resiliency and decarbonization. Unless we address this, the medium-to-long-term growth is not going to be sustainable.”
