Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - MAJLIS EL HASSAN - The West Asia North Africa (WANA) Forum has concluded with recommendations on how best to sustain the region’s carrying capacity, ranging from creating a citizen’s social charter and cohesion fund to establishing a revolving fund for the legal empowerment of the poor.

Participants agreed that the region needs to look at itself in full panoramic view to help shift focus from the glass half-empty reality on a national scale to the glass half-full possibility on a regional scale.

More than 130 participants representing different backgrounds, expertise and nationalities agreed that developing supranational and regional cooperation is essential if the area wants to find solutions to its challenges.

We don’t need to go to Prague or Paris or London or Washington to discuss the future of WANA, HRH Prince Hassan said.

“God helps those who help themselves. It is time we consider changing ourselves, our perceptions; shouldering our responsibilities, not consider ourselves at anytime as positional elite,” he noted.

“I don’t count, possibly. You don’t count, possibly. The people who count are our children and their children. Let us try to make their world a little more comfortable on the basis of our experience and suffering,” the prince pointed out.

In his closing statement on Tuesday, Prince Hassan reaffirmed that WANA countries must work side by side to preserve the dignity of the peoples of this region and achieve real and true empowerment that meets international standards.

Emphasising the power of knowledge and education, he called for creating networks of cooperation across all educational institutions in WANA.

Proposals that emerged from the forum highlighted the significance of regional networking and partnership in several areas, especially education. In order to move from brain drain to brain gain, enable social cohesion and sustainable development, social equity and empowerment and a strong knowledge-based economy, participants agreed that education is indispensable.

They stressed that without education, there is social exclusion, indicating that social exclusion and poverty go hand-in-hand. They added that without education, activating consultation within the third sphere - governments, the private sector and civil society - would be extremely difficult.

The Prince expressed his gratitude to His Majesty King Abdullah for launching the “Drivers of Change” campaign last week, saying the national awareness campaign shares many of the concepts and ideas discussed at the forum.

Prince Hassan also stressed the need for a “law of peace” and an active regional role in shaping phase two of the Millennium Development Goals in addition to an advanced thought process to face wars and their results.

* Petra Photo