INAUGURAL ASIA-MIDDLE EAST DIALOGUE
COMMON INTERESTS AND COMMON CHALLENGES
SHANGRI-LA HOTEL, SINGAPORE
20-22 JUNE 2005
CHAIRMAN'S SUMMARY
Ministers
Your Excellencies
Distinguished Participants
Ladies and Gentlemen
1 I had the privilege of making the opening statement yesterday morning. It is now my responsibility to summarise the important work we have done over the last two days and to bring AMED I to a conclusion.
Reports by Moderators of the Nine Panels
2 The nine panel discussions were very successful. They were substantive and constructive. Because of the shortage of time, there were no question and answers sessions at our plenary meetings. Participants were therefore pleased to have had the opportunity to exchange views and interact with one another in the panels. The nine moderators kept the discussions focussed and were able to arrive, by consensus, on points of convergence and specific suggestions. The reports of the moderators will be attached to my summation. I will therefore not repeat what is contained in the moderators' reports. Instead, I will try to capture the most important points which were made during the plenary sessions, at our two lunches and at the dinner hosted by the Foreign Minister of Singapore. In the process, I am sure I will have forgotten to record some important points which some of you have made. I ask for your forgiveness in advance. I am sure you understand and sympathise with me as I had to write this summary under tremendous pressure of time.
AMED's Historical Underpinning
3 At the Istana dinner last evening, the Foreign Minister of Singapore, George Yeo gave us both a culinary and an intellectual treat. He reminded us that AMED has embarked on a journey of re-discovery and not of discovery. The reason is that ties between our two regions go back to at least the 8th century. Fortunately for us, our past encounters were happy ones and we carry no baggage from history which could complicate our new encounter which is opening up exciting opportunities. Once again, as Minister Yeo said, traders, scholars, religious leaders and adventurers are travelling from east to west and from west to east. Our goal in AMED is to facilitate this flow.
AMED's Economic Underpinning
4 In his speech to us at lunch yesterday, Singapore's Education Minister, Tharman Shanmugaratnam shared with us his valuable insights into the economic underpinning of AMED. Let me try to summarise his most important points. Asia and the Middle-East are two economically dynamic regions with good potential. Both regions are on an upward trajectory of growth, with Asia growing at a trend line of 7.5% and the Middle-East at 5%. Growth in the two regions is being propelled by our abundant natural resources, our growing domestic demand and by the aspirations of our new generation young people. Financially, the fundamentals are also favourable. The savings rates in Asia are expected to remain in the region of 35-40% of GDP. The savings rates in the Middle East are expected to average about 32% of GDP in the coming years. Last year, in 2004, Asia's cumulative current account surplus was 6% of GDP, whereas the current account surplus of the Middle-East was higher at 14%. Asia's official foreign currency reserves exceed US$2 trillion, an amount larger than the reserves of Europe and America combined. In 2004 the same year, the oil revenues of the Middle-East exceed US$180 billion. There are therefore many opportunities for cooperation between our two regions in the management of our surplus savings and our reserves, in wealth management, in the financing of infrastructure development and in the expansion of our banking and financial services.
Message from King Abdullah II
5 In his keynote speech, King Abdullah II said that a regional renaissance was knocking on the doors of the Middle East and the region must answer that knock. To achieve that renaissance, the King said the Middle East needed regional stability, reform in the region's political, economic, administrative and legal systems; it needed a vibrant private sector; it needed a new accord between the government and the people. The King called for a political environment based on freedom, representation and good governance. The King also commended to our attention a message of a group of Nobel Laureates, who gathered recently at the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. The message is that education is the necessary engine of change.
Managing Political and Security Challenges in Asia and the Middle-East
6 The first plenary session was addressed by three distinguished speakers: (i) Deputy Foreign Minister Dato' Joseph Salang Gandum, speaking on behalf of the Malaysian Prime Minister; (ii) Ambassador Dr Muhammad Shaaban of Egypt; and (iii) HH Prince Dr Torki Bin Saud Al-Kabir of Saudi Arabia.
7 The Malaysian Foreign Minister said that AMED can contribute to the following three areas:
(i) strengthening the global normative framework governing state behaviour and inter-state relations;
(ii) promoting inter-faith dialogue and understanding;
(iii) the world should adopt a multilateral approach to countering international terrorism and complementing other regional efforts.
8 Dr Shaaban's most important points to the plenary were as follows:
(i) peace, development, stability and security are interrelated and inseparable;
(ii) the people of the Middle-East yearn for peace and Egypt has worked very hard in the past and continues to work very hard for the cause of a just settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis; and
(iii) the West should not impose its unilateral "initiatives" for reform or for the promotion of democracy and human rights on the Middle East. To succeed, these initiatives must be "owned" by the governments and peoples of the region and it must take into account the history, culture, context and circumstances of each of the countries.
9 Prince Torki's most important contributions to our discussion are the
following:
(i) Terrorism is a global challenge. Terrorism should not be wrongly associated with any religion, ethnic group, country or region. It is a global scourge, which has assaulted countries around the world, including Saudi Arabia. He said that the world should join hands to fight against this scourge which is against every value and principle of Islam;
(ii) the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rejects any attempt by foreign
countries to impose its notions of democracy and human rights on
it. However, the Kingdom has embarked on its own agenda for
reform, which includes for eg the National Dialogue project,
expanding the membership and authority of the Consultative Council
and holding Municipal elections recently; and
(iii) Saudi Arabia is committed to fulfilling its obligation to maintain the stability of the petroleum market and has initiated the establishment of the Energy Forum as the platform to promote dialogue and cooperation between the producer and consuming countries.
Deepening Economic Engagement between Asia and the Middle-East
10 The second plenary session have four distinguished speakers. The first speaker was the Foreign Minister of Oman, Mr Yusuf bin Alawi Abdullah. He made the following three important points:
(i) the Middle East and Asia have long and historic ties. There are no
fundamental political or cultural differences between us. There is
therefore good potential for the two regions to achieve a deeper
dialogue and better understanding of each other. This will pave the
way to greater economic cooperation between us;
(ii) Oman has very strong bilateral ties with Singapore and there are numerous Singapore companies operating in Oman. He said that the good cooperation between Oman and Singapore could be viewed as an exampler of cooperation between countries from the two regions;
(iii) Oman has taken steps to improve is economic competitiveness and its investment climate. Oman seeks to deepen its cooperation with other GCC countries, as well as with other countries such as China, India, Pakistan and Turkey as well as with groups such as the EU and Mercosur.
11 The second speaker was Minister Abdelhamid Temmar of Algeria. He made the following important points:
(i) The countries of North Africa, also known as the Maghreb, constitute a
significant economic entity, consisting of 80 million people, with two
major oil and gas producing countries (Algeria and Libya) as well as
other countries such as Morocco and Tunisia, which have strengths in
agriculture, tourism and services; and
(ii) Algeria is presently not on the mental map of Asian business leaders. This is true. Few Asians are aware of Algeria's sound macroeconomic policies, of its transition from being a centrally planned to a market economy, of its privatisation programme and of its major investments in building new infrastructure.
12 The third speaker was Mr Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore. He made the following points:
(i) The economies in the Middle-East like those in Asia were
experiencing exceptional growth. We are therefore dealing with two
buoyant economies, which offer many opportunities to each other;
(ii) Economic partnerships such as Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is an
effective way to increase trade and investment and could also serve as a
bridge between the two regions;
(iii) Singapore and Qatar have recently launched an initiative, called "Qatar-Singapore Connect", to serve as a platform for networking and in order to facilitate and intensify cooperation between their two private sectors.
13 The fourth speaker was Dr Bassem Awadallah of Jordan. In an unusually frank appraisal of the Middle-East, Dr Awadallah said that all Arab economies needed fundamental reform. He regretted that the level of economic cooperation between the regional countries was minimal and he also said that the private sector needed to be empowered. His most important point to us was that AMED should foster private sector cooperation between the two regions and he cited the Arab Business Council as a valuable interlocutor for this process.
The Role of Culture and Religion in National Development: Perceptions from Asia and the Middle-East
14 The session had three distinguished speakers: Dr Mohammad Jassim Al Ghatam of Bahrain, Dr Kanthathi Suphamongkhon, the Foreign Minister of Thailand, and Dr Ahmed Kamal Aboul Magd of Egypt.
15 The first speaker, Dr Al Ghatam, gave us a brilliant lecture:
(i) Culture is the fruit of civilisation, in both material and non-material forms. You asked rhetorically, "What is the status of culture in contemporary Arab society?" You pointed out that there is a positive trend to shift through heritage and tradition in order to maintain its essence and to abandon the non-essential aspects. This critical assessment of culture and heritage is what we need today;
(ii) All the great religions of the world share three things in common: They (a) uphold the dignity of the human being; (b) reject discrimination based on race, colour, etc.; and (c) accept that the universe and human kind is one;
(iii) Culture, religion and development are not incompatible. In fact, they could be mutually reinforced; and
(iv) our cooperation and progress should be based upon six components: (a) an enlightened model of political governance; (b) a culture of dialogue, tolerance and interaction; (c) reform of education; (d) promotion of economic development; (e) a responsible media; and (f) belief in religion.
16 The second speaker, Dr Kanthathi, made five important points:
(i) Thailand has been seeking to strengthen links between
Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle-East through the
Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), which has 28 member
countries;
(ii) Globalisation brings us many benefits but it also increases the
gaps and disparities both within and between countries;
(iii) Thailand does not tolerate discrimination on the basis of culture
and religion and is seeking to restore peace in its three
southern provinces through dialogue and reconciliation;
(iv) The voice of true Islam is a voice of moderation as exemplified,
for example, in the Amman Statement; and
(v) Let us at AMED, draw strength from our diversity and promote
a culture of peace and tolerance.
17 The third speaker, Dr Ahmed Kamal Aboul Magd, treated us to a brilliant extemporaneous exposition on the roles of culture and religion. He said:
(i) There is an attempt in the West to demonise Islam and that
Arabs and Muslims have not done a good job to point out the
falsehood and to present the true face of Islam;
(ii) In Islam as in other religions, there is a mainstream and there
are fringe groups. The extreme positions advocated by the
fringe groups should not be attributed to Islam;
(iii) Contrary to some misunderstanding, Islam is not anti-
development. It is pro-development;
(iv) it is wrong for the West to refer to the "Judeo-Christian"
heritage instead of the "Judeo-Christian-Islamic" heritage
because all three religions sprang from the same source and
revere the same prophets; and
(v) Islam is a religion of peace and not of violence.
Strengthening Cooperation for Mutual Benefit
18 Mr Ma Zhengang, the President of the China Institute of International Studies, has made an important contribution in his speech at lunch today. He put forward the following four proposals:
(i) to respect and support each other politically;
(ii) to conduct practical economic cooperation for mutual benefit and for win-win results;
(iii) to learn from one another culturally for our common progress; and
iv) to conduct dialogue and consultation based upon equality and
mutual trust on security issues.
Education
19 I would like to say a few words about education. I was struck by the emphasis given by King Abdullah, by the Nobel Laureates in Petra, and by Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, to the importance of education. The development experience of Asia shows that there is a positive correlation between investment in education and economic growth. The right to education is in my view one of the most important human rights. We also live in a world, in which knowledge and creativity, are becoming two of the most important assets of a country. We must therefore educate all of our people not just some of our people. We must educate them well by reforming our education system, our curriculum and our pedagogy. The emphasis must be, not on rote-learning, but on cultivating every child's thinking skills. Education should also be a continuing process throughout one's whole lifetime. In view of the importance of education, at all levels, I hope that AMED countries would help each other in the field of education and training, both vocational and professional.
Our Common Challenges
20 Although our countries are located in two different regions of the world and we may be at different levels of economic development, we do, however, face many common challenges. Let me mention some of them:
(i) the challenge of globalisation
(ii) the challenge of regionalisation
(iii) how to educate our young boys and girls to become productive
citizens and ensure that they have the skills to compete in a
rapidly changing and globalising world?
(iv) How to uplift the lives of all our citizens by creating opportunities
for education, for employment and for cultural and spiritual growth?
(v) How do we evolve a stable and responsive political system, appropriate to our specific histories, cultures and circumstances?
(vi) How do we achieve modernity without losing our unique history, our identity and our heritage?
AMED I's Modest Objectives
21 There is a proverb that exists both in the Middle East and Asia that a journey of a thousand miles begin with the first step. This inaugural AMED is a first step and we are heading in the right direction. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has set for us four modest objectives for this meeting. What are his four objectives?
22 First, to close the knowledge gap between our two regions and to increase better mutual understanding between the peoples of the two regions. This is an objective that will take a very long time to achieve and must be on-going. Speaking for myself, I am much more knowledgeable about Algeria and the Maghreb have been closed to some extent.
23 Second, our objective is to erase negative stereotypes of each other. Such stereotype are formed from ignorance, because of prejudice and distorted reporting. Unfortunately, we rely almost exclusively on the Western media for our information and knowledge of each other. I hope Asian media companies to consider establishing bureaux in the Middle-East and Middle-Eastern companies will consider doing the same in Asia.
24 Third, we can share our experiences in political, economic and cultural development. We can learn from each other's success stories. We should seek to emulate each other's best practices. We should draw inspiration from each other's achievements. I think we have made a start at AMED.
25 Fourth, the Senior Minister has asked us to come up with a few ideas for tangible and concrete collaboration for our mutual benefit. I think we have achieved this objective in the reports of our nine panels.
The Working Groups
26 The good ideas we have generated, the concrete recommendations contained in the moderators' reports will not be forgotten and they will be followed up. As I told you yesterday, the Steering Committee has established three open-ended working groups. The working groups on politics and security will be co-chaired by Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. The working group on economics will be co-chaired by Thailand and Egypt. The working group on social, educational, cultural, scientific and media issues will be co-chaired by Singapore and Jordan.
AMED's Future
27 The future of AMED is assured. AMED II will meet in Egypt in 2007. AMED III will meet in Thailand in 2009. AMED IV will meet in Saudi Arabia in 2011. Bahrain has offered to host a future meeting.
28 It is perhaps fitting that in the final plenary session, Prof Ahmed Kamal Aboul Magd gave us a few golden rules for a meaningful dialogue, which we should bear in mind as we prepare for AMED II:
(i) Dialogue should be a two-way traffic and not an attempt by one side to convert the other;
(ii) We must accept as a given that there would always be
differences among different cultures;
iii) No one should entertain the belief that he/she has a monopoly of
wisdom or a sense of cultural superiority. No culture is too
important and no culture is to modest not to have something to
offer.
(iv) Dialogue is not about proving the other wrong, but about
finding and focusing on areas of commonalities.
. . . . .