ABSTRACT
Dr. A. Al-Maliki: I should like to congratulate the organizer of the symposium for linking the problem of industrial development in individual Arab countries to the issue of industrial integration at the Arab World level. In recent years so many light and heavy industries have been established in almost every Arab country, especially the oil-exporting ones; therefore the success of any industrial policy in a given Arab country seems to be based on the failure of the neighboring countries. In order to avoid further duplication, coordination is a must. This coordination has to be seen as the first step toward Arab industrial integration. At this higher stage politics plays an important role because, in contrast to other regions of the world, in the Arab World economic decisions are based on political decisions. I must add that political differences among Arab countries are not as deep as those among the European countries. Despite this, the success of all Arab bilateral and multilateral attempts to integrate has been limited. Please note I did not say they failed, because some Arab companies in the industrial sector as well as in other sectors have been created; unfortunately, they have not been mentioned by either of the speakers.
