Arab world needs jobs, investment: WEF

JORDAN, Oct 23 (Business Recorder): The popular uprisings that have swept the Arab world this year have slowed economies across the region, and jobs, better governance and investment are needed, speakers at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Jordan said Saturday. Jordanian King Abdullah said at the opening of the forum on unemployment, economic stagnation and other problems some of which sparked the uprisings across the Middle East and north Africa that the region needs to create 85 million jobs soon. "This year's events have opened the way to positive change, but in many places, also created painful economic dislocations. Strategies are urgently needed, and they must take place across the board - in economic life, in politics and policies, in social life and cultural values," he said. In Yemen, for example, where two in three people survive on less than $2 per day, 40 per cent of the population suffer from illiteracy and high unemployment.