World Bank Group
World Bank Group
11/06/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/04/2024 18:14
Cities for More and Better Jobs in the Middle East and North Africa Region
This World Bank high-level policy dialogue will explore how cities in the Middle East and North Africa have enabled job creation compared to other cities around the world and reflect on policies that could unleash economic growth and employment in urban areas.
Despite being the world's fourth most urbanized region with around two-thirds of people live in cities, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has not fully reaped the benefits of urban agglomeration for job creation and growth.
Many MENA countries have GDPs that are below predicted levels given their actual levels of urbanization. Since the Arab Spring, the average growth rate of real GDP per capita across MENA countries has been a mere 0.29 percent per annum compared to 1.72 percent per annum in previous decade. And countries continue to struggle to create sufficient employment for their growing working age populations, affecting particularly youth and women-in 2019, MENA's youth unemployment rate of 26 percent ranked as the highest in the world.
The World Bank is developing a new flagship knowledge initiative on "MENA Cities for More and Better Jobs" to support Arab countries navigate these challenges. This report will look at how MENA cities have enabled job creation across the region in the past 10 years, and reflect on how urban policies could unleash economic growth and employment in urban areas.
The event will share the preliminary findings of the benchmarking of 800 cities, positioning the recent evolution of productivity and jobs in MENA cities compared to other cities across the world. Participants will discuss those in the context of the various country and city experiences around employment challenges and opportunities as observed in the region.
|
8-8:30am |
Participants' Registration |
|
8:30-8:40am |
Opening remarks By Ming Zhang, Global Director for Urban, Resilience, and Land, World Bank |
|
8:40-9:00am |
Presentation - Benchmarking the economic performances of MENA's cities: preliminary findings from the World Bank's "MENA Cities for More & Better Jobs" flagship initiative. By Mark Roberts, Global Lead for Urban & Spatial Economics, World Bank |
|
9:00-9:30am |
Panel Session - MENA cities performance: one region, different stories Moderated by Sameh Wahba, Europe and Central Asia Regional Director for Sustainable Development, World Bank
|
|
9:30-9:50am |
Open Discussion and Q&A with audience |
|
9:50-10:00am |
Closing remarks By Catherine Tovey, Practice Manager, MENA Urban, Resilience, and Land, World Bank |