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Berger Panel: Can the MENA Region Meet the Sustainable Development Goals? Several Open Questions

Though many states in the MENA region have substantial wealth and a bustling investment climate due to their oil and gas reserves, many others struggle to establish a future with financial prosperity for their people. In this panel, four scholars and practitioners will discuss sustainable development in MENA.

Dr. Radwa Elsaman, Adjunct Professor at Cornell Law School and International Development & Rule of Law Consultant, will start with an overview of the economic, legal, and political challenges in efforts to adopt sustainability in MENA. Dr. Elsaman will describe an underlying struggle that impedes the rule of law from being recognized. Follows Professor Susan L. Karamanian, the Dean of Hamad Bin Khalifa University College of Law, to examine the role of sports, particularly the FIFA World Cup 2022, in promoting SDGs in the region, with a specific focus on the legal legacy. Mahmoud Salah, a legal consultant with the World Bank Group, will summarize the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law Project's findings on the MENA region's regulatory impediments in entrepreneurship and labor force spheres. Finally, Amber Neumann, Rule of Law Project Management Consultant and Technical Advisor, will discuss regional court modernization initiatives, specifically efforts to leverage technology to promote transparency and efficiency. In doing so, Amber will discuss the associated risks and opportunities emergent technologies present to court systems, relevant ethical questions to be explored, and how technologies would be used to advance access to justice actively. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Elsaman, who will also conclude by making a few comments regarding the potential for future development in the region.

Jan 31, 2023 12:15 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)