Professor of Diplomacy and International Relations in the CAS Department of International Affairs (DIA) and Chair of the CAS Seminar Committee Dr Mohieddine Hadhri, attended the UNCTAD XIII symposium which took place recently in Doha and which drew thousands of government and diplomatic officials, high-level leaders, policy-makers, NGOs, social development activists, and trade economists, to name a few.

Prof Hadhri's participation was at the invitation of the South Centre in Geneva.  He attended the panel discussion on the “The World Turned Upside Down : The Rise of the South” and presented his recent research study entitled “ Globalization Challenges and New Arab Regionalism: Towards a new Deal of South-South Integration”.

Summarizing his latest findings, Dr Hadhri stated that with the anemic growth in the rich countries due to the financial crisis, the fact that some countries in the global South such as China, India, Brazil, and South Africa have recently experienced rapid economic growth, may suggest that there is a new global engine in the South, and that the time has come for a new deal on South-South cooperation and sustained development, which would provide new scope for an equal and more just North-South relationship.

Dr Hadhri pointed to the new context in the Arab World after the Arab Spring which he said may open the door for new prospects of trade, investment and development on a large scale. He also discussed an outline of the domestic and international policy reforms and institutional arrangements to be achieved by Arab countries, and more largely by developing countries, in order to enhance the momentum of sustainable growth in the South.

He reaffirmed his conviction that the creation of an Arab market would have a multiplier effect on the separate policies pursued by the various countries. “Consequently, the region’s attractiveness should be that much greater. In short, it is the central question whether the re-establishment of a collective platform for Arab countries will give a coherence and credible voice to their interest in the international system”, he said.

Dr Hadri also organized a number of workshops and debates in his course on the study and practice of diplomacy to orient DIA students on UNCTAD as a major international organization aimed at maximizing the trade, investment and development opportunities of developing countries while helping them face the challenges of globalization.