Day One: SUNDAY, December 8, 2019

09:00-11:00

Opening and Plenary Session: GCC in the midst of Global Changes: Responding to New Economic Order                                                                   | Great room                                                                       

Chairperson: Dr. Fatima Al Shamsi, Economic Research Forum

Welcome Remarks: Dr. Sherine Ghoneim, Economic Research Forum

Opening Remarks: Dr. Khamis Al-Yahyaee, College of Economics and Political Science

Keynote Speaker: H.E. Yahya Al-Jabri, Chairman of Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm

Oman has recently introduced a number of new laws that are intended to promote investment in non-oil sectors as a mean to diversify its economy. Also, the government has been working hard to create a business friendly environment for the private sector to grow and contribute more effectively to the diversification drive in Oman. In spite of the current macroeconomic challenges, due to the drop in oil prices in the past few years, the country has made important progress in attracting foreign investment and look forward to do more in the future. The government in partnership with all its stakeholders in the country has prepared a new economic vision Oman 2040 that will be implemented starting in 2021.

Plenary Session: GCC in the midst of Global Changes: Responding to New Economic Order           

The session will provide an overview of the challenges and opportunities facing the GCC nations. It will feature speakers and policy makers who are currently or have previously been in academic and policy leadership positions.

Panelists: 

H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salmi, Executive President of Capital Market Authority,

H.E. Abdulsalam Al-Murshidi, Executive President of the State General Reserve Fund,

H.E. Tahir Al-Amri, Executive President of the Central Bank of Oman,

Dr. Majid Al-Moneif, King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center and ERF

Moderator: Professor Saeed Al-Muharrami, College of Economics and Political Science

11:00-11:30

Coffee Break

11:30-13:30

Session 2: Oil, Fiscal Policy and the Macroeconomy                      | Great room                                                                               

Chairperson: Dr. Hatem Al-Shanfari, SQU

Speakers:

Ibtisam Al Abri, Gülcan Önel, and Kelly A. Grogan, Oil Price Shocks and Macroeconomic Instability in an Oil-Dependent Economy

Assil El Mahmah and Magda Kandil, Fiscal Policy in the GCC: Challenges of sustainability

Moez Ben Tahar, Mohamed Ali Houfi, and Sarra Ben Slimane, Fiscal Multipliers And Prospects For Consolidation: Evidence From GCC Countries

Essahbi Essaadi and Rafik Jbir, The recent dynamic relationship between oil price shocks and global economy: the case of MENA Countries

Kassim Dakhlallah, Economic Growth and Total Factor Productivity for a Resource-Rich Economy  Under Uncertainty:  The Case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Open Discussion

This panel looks at how the MENA region and the GCC countries in particular are adjusting to the low oil price environment, the role of oil in macroeconomic stability, the speed of fiscal adjustment, and the challenges of sustainability.

13:30-14:30

Lunch Break

14:30-15:30

Session 3: Climate Change and Environment                                 | Great room                                                                        

Session Chair: DR. Reza Agdam, SQU

Speakers: 

Sufian Abdel-Gadir, Energy Consumption, CO2 Emissions and Economic Growth Nexus in Oman: Evidence from ARDL Approach to Cointegration and Causality Analysis

Assil El Mahmah and Amine Amar, Food Security in the GCC: Is it a climate issue?

Open Discussion

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is very vulnerable to climate change, more so than other regions, mainly due to their existing climate and their limited ability to adapt.  It is facing several environmental challenges, such water scarcity, drought, and low precipitation, which in turn has implications for economic growth and food security.

The December 2015 Paris Agreement represents an important milestone for the international community’s coordination efforts in reducing greenhouse gases and controlling the global average temperature to less than 2ºC above pre-industrial levels. Consequently, MENA countries need to act proactively by identifying the related risks to be able to design proper climate policies in a way to be incorporated into their development strategies and fiscal planning in general.

Day Two: Monday, December 9, 2019

09:00-10:30

Session 4: Labour Panel                                                                   | Great room                                                                       

Session Chair: Dr. Usamah Al Farhan, SQU

Panelists:  

Wasseem Mina, Second-Generation Labor Market Policies and FDI Flows to GCC Countries.                                                                         

Nader Kabbani and Nejla Ben Mimoune, The Determinants of Entrepreneurship Intentions and Activity Among Qatari Nationals

Abdelghani  Echchabi, Mohammed Mispah Said Omar, and Abdullah Mohammed Ayedh, Entrepreneurial intention among female university students in Oman

Open Discussion

In spite of their wealth and advanced governance structures, countries of the GCC continue to face a number of socio-economic challenges, such as improving educational outcomes, diversifying their economies, and enhancing the institutions responsible for social support. This panel examines human capital development, labor dynamics and entrepreneurial intentions and activity in the GCC. It also examines human development and social outcomes, including poverty and inequality. The panel includes a strong policy element focusing on labor market, social development, and private sector development policies.

10:30-11:00

Coffee break

11:00-12:30

Session 5: Inclusive Growth and Economic Integration                | Great room

Session Chair: Dr. Azmat Gani, SQU

Speakers: 

Hassan Hakimian, Converting Oil Rents to Inclusive Growth: Lessons for the GCC Region

Russell Kruger, Erwin Nierop, and Raja AlMarzoqi, Economic Integration in the GCC

Usamah  Alfarhan, What Makes the Difference: Decomposition of Tourist Expenditures in Oman

Open Discussion

This panel will focus on whether the GCC countries’ growth experience has been ‘inclusive’ in the sense of benefitting the widest social and economic sections of the population. This overarching question is formulated and examined in the wider, comparative, context of both oil- and non-oil exporting countries in the MENA region as well as over different time periods in the first decade and a half of the 2000s.

We will also discuss the GCC’s objective of economic integration. Moving progressively through increasing stages of integration involves various preconditions and requirements. But what would a formal blueprint for regional integration look like?

12:30-13:30

Lunch

13:30-15:00

Session 7: Finance, Risk, and Inclusiveness                                   | Great room                                                                                     

Session Chair: Dr. Syed Mujahid Hussain, SQU

Speakers: 

Fatma Mohamed Mabrouk and Noreha Halid, Inequality and Inclusive Finance In Saudi Arabia

Mughees Shaukat, Islamic Finance, in the Light of Institutional and Regulatory Framework, for Marco-Economic Resilience and Multi-Polar Economic World

Khamis Al-Yahyaee, Syed Jawad Shahzad, Walid Mensi, and Seong-Min Yoon, Is there a systemic risk between Sharia, Sukuk, and GCC stock markets? A CoVaR risk metric-based copula approach

Open Discussion

This panel discusses the role of Islamic Finance (which has grown unprecedentedly) in terms of macroeconomic stability, it examines the relationship between income inequality and financial inclusion, and discusses the upside and downside risk spillovers between the GCC and related Dow Jones Sukuk and Sharia stock markets in extreme market conditions.

15:00-15:30

Closing Session and Next Steps