‘Educate, employ youth to snuff out extremism’

Education and economic development is the need of the hour to achieve stability in the Arab region, said Dr Taïeb Baccouche, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tunisia.

Participating in the televised plenary, hosted by Sky News Arabia on “Extremism, Stability and Development: The Future of the Middle East,” Dr. Baccouche said that economic instability added fuel to terrorism. “Therefore, employment should be generated to employ youths in order to keep extremism at bay.”

“In Arab region, some religious houses have pushed some people towards extremism. Even Germany, Japan and Italy went through violence at one point of time due to some ideological impacts. But in the Arab region, the extremism is solely due to religious issues,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, he opined that political solution is the cornerstone for Lybian issues, while international help is needed for Tunisia to overcome challenges faced by it. He said that one should not confuse between blind terrorism and resistance to injustice, adding that bombing was not a right reaction to any cause.

Dr Abdullatif Al Zayani, Secretary General, Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf said, “In May 2005, King Abdulla of Saudi said that terrorism was the only threat to the society. But nobody listened to him.” “At the same time, a total of 110 billion dollars had been donated to the GCC to fight terrorism. But 10 years later, terrorism has badly affected the Arab region.”

“Tremendous efforts were exerted to fight terrorism. We are also pursuing a comprehensive solution to terrorism,” Dr. Al Zayani added.

Riyadh Yaseen, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yemen, said that weak infrastructure and widespread distribution of infrastructure had been causing a big challenge in his war-torn country.

“Some international organisations are also reluctant to provide aid due to the access issues, further complicating the lives of Yemeni people. But the country needs to move on quickly,” he said.

Meanwhile, Helen Clark, Administrator, UN Development Programme, stressed the need for sustainable development to establish peace in Arab region. Fadila Souissi of Sky News Arabia moderated the discussion.