By Manal Abdel Fattah
The General Secretariat – Economic Affairs Sector – Economic Relations Department held the conference “The Role of the Arab Private Sector in Improving Waste Management “Towards Circular Arab Economies by Addressing Waste and Emissions,” in partnership with the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development and a number of other concerned parties during the period 1/26-28/ 2024 in Doha, State of Qatar, within the framework of the League of Arab States – Economic Affairs Sector’s participation in the activities of “Qatar Horticultural Expo 2023”, which is hosted by the State of Qatar during the period 10/2/2023 – 3/28/2024.
Ambassador Dr. Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Maliki – Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Affairs, stressed that the importance of holding this conference comes from the pivotal role played by the private sector, Arab companies and specialized Arab organizations concerned with improving waste management and moving towards environmentally friendly businesses. It also aims to shed light on the opportunities and challenges that Arab countries face in the field of waste management and how the private sector can contribute to achieving environmental sustainability goals and contribute effectively to improving waste management and moving towards environmentally friendly businesses through its investments and efforts in awareness, sustainability, innovation and cooperation with concerned parties. The other is an important platform for formulating and concluding many agreements to enhance integration between the Arab public and private sectors in the areas of clean development, green economy, and clean entrepreneurship.
Participating in the conference activities were Dr. Ibrahim Al-Dakhiri – Director General of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, Dr. Khaled Hanafi – Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Chambers, Dr. Abdel Majeed Ben Amara – Secretary-General of the Union of Arab Scientific Research Councils, and in the presence of Dr. Nasser Yassin – Minister of the Environment of the Lebanese Republic, A large number of directors of specialized Arab organizations concerned, dignitaries, entrepreneurs and representatives of Arab chambers of commerce.
The conference discussed a number of topics related to how to manage waste in cooperation with the private sector, in addition to holding meetings of B2B businessmen.