Peak Oil Conference Kicks Off in Doha

Doha, April 03 (QNA) - The conference on "Peak Oil: Challenges and Opportunities for the GCC Countries" kicked off at the Katara Cultural Village today in collaboration between the Forum for Arab and International Relations, and the Qatar Environment & Energy Research Institute. In his welcome note, Dr. Khaled Bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti, General Director of the Cultural Village "Katara" said the two-days event discusses a number of themes, including Youth Education & Unemployment, Scarcity of Resources, Economic Security, and Rentier state and its implications. He expressed hope that the Conference would produce enhanced studies and methods as contributions of knowledge in the region. What future does it holds after hydrocarbon resources in the GCC region. Will the economic and social transition to post-oil GCC will be smooth? What are the consequences would face and how to solve these obstacles? These are the fundamental questions participants are attempting to answer through this conference. The inevitability of the shrinking of hydrocarbon resources brings great challenges and at the same time multiple opportunities to implement proactive and pro-public policies to avoid any social and political breakdown. The event brings well-known experts, visionaries, historians, economists, technocrats and others from the region and beyond. Under the theme of "Youth Education & Unemployment," participants will discuss means of meeting market demand in GCC countries; especially that Youth employment has become a major concern in the area as millions of decent new jobs have to be created by the end of this decade. On the "Scarcity of Resource," the conference will explore how the GCC region is vulnerable to climate change and a clear vision is needed to adapt and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. While the theme of "Conflict and Peace in the Region" will review the impact of the Arab Uprising on the political landscape of the region and how the socio-political peace is necessary for long-term and sustainable economic development is therefore more vital than ever for the region and the Arab world at large. Under the fourth theme of " Economic Security," participants will discuss the importance of economic security and prosperity and well-being of the citizens in the region, focusing on Income security in particular, measured in terms of income protections and lower levels of income disparity. On the "Rentier state and its implications" theme, participants will review the multiple effects of the rentier system on the social and economic aspects of the society. Most of the studies about the concept of rentier state, argued that natural resources based economies play a role in weakening the chances for political participations, the role of women in the society, the value of labor and productivity, etc... (QNA)