Proceedings of Annual Tokyo Business Research Conference
15 - 16 December 2014, Waseda University, Tokyo, japan, ISBN: 978-1-922069-67-2
Sustainable Development in MENA Resource-Based
Economies: Achievements and Challenges
Salem Nechi1
Over the last decade or so, Resource-based economies in the MENA region have shown increasing
interest in sustainable development programs. This is because these countries are increasingly being
faced with multidimensional development issues, namely economic, environmental, social and
institutional development challenges. However, despite their geographical, economic, social and
cultural similarities, each of these countries is willing to adopt its own framework within which national
development strategies and implementation plans can be prepared. In general, the differences in
development strategies emerge from the differences in national priorities. Development issues of
developing countries, for example, are quite different from those of developed countries. Tackling
poverty and other social aspects (such as education and healthcare) are national priorities for lowincome countries while pollution and population aging represent national priorities for many developed
economies. In this paper, we address the national priorities of resource-based economies in the MENA
region, their achievements, and challenges facing the sustainable development efforts. Our
assessment of the development initiatives in these nations show that (i) the consolidation of the
sustainable development concept needs to be addressed, (ii) although achievements in economic and
social dimensions are important (high per capita income, improvements in education, healthcare and
income distribution), more efficiency in using the resources and more diversification of the economy
are needed, (iii) the environment dimension remains a major challenge to the sustainable development
efforts, and the resource-based countries of the MENA region need to consider more balanced
development path if they want more sustainability in their development efforts. We conclude this paper
with policy recommendations to reconcile the competing demands for the different dimensions of
sustainable development proposals in the resource-based economies in the MENA region.
1
College of Business and Economics, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar, P. Box. 2713. Phone: +974 44036497.
Email: snechi@qu.edu.qa