Ammon News - AMMAN – A consultation on reconstruction and recovery in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) called for states to take a strong lead in the reconstruction of their own countries, building a sense of ownership through genuine participation of local actors, regional capacity building and encouraging a will to work together in the region through common humanity.

The two-day meeting gathered over 40 experts, decision-makers and representatives of United Nations organisations from across WANA and beyond in Amman to discuss reconstruction and recovery concerns in the region at the WANA-Led Reconstruction and Recovery Expert Consultation.

Notably, His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, the facilitator and guardian of the WANA Forum, and His Excellency Lakhdar Brahimi, former United Nations’ Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Iraq, were among the participants.

El Hassan stressed that peacekeeping operations and peace-building efforts are an essential leverage for reform for the people of the region. He maintained that it would be futile to talk about economic and natural resources without talking about carrying capacity and insisted on the need to address food security and development concerns as well as legal empowerment of the poor.

HRH also called for an economic and social council for the WANA region and multilateral mechanisms that could lead to better governance. He asserted the importance of regional cooperation and social cohesion, “we must not continue to live on “islands”, promoting smaller and smaller communities” and must “work jointly and convivially”, he declared.

His Excellency Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi stated that after the Cold War, we are still in a state of transition, looking for a new “world order”. He asserted that managing conflict and post-conflict reconstruction is a key challenge for the region and that the contribution of our part of the world is not visible and insufficient.

Brahimi brought the participants’ attention to the question of Palestine, “a personal issue to all of us”, he said, and encouraged them to uphold the right of an occupied people to defend themselves and fight an occupation for their liberation.

He also questioned why the five permanent members of the United Nations’ Security Council, in addition to Germany, are representing the international community in negotiating the nuclear ambitions of Iran and why neighbouring countries and countries from the region are not participating in these negotiations.

H.E. argued that Western-created concepts, such as democracy, elections and constitutions, cannot be applied in our region, unless they are home-grown. He asserted that countries such as Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan and Somalia need our attention and that it is time we play our full part in the reconstruction of the WANA region.

The consultation, which was organized by the West Asia-North Africa (WANA) Forum, in cooperation with the Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU) at the University of York and the Regional Human Security Centre (RHSC) in Amman, explored three main areas: lessons learned from previous and contemporary post-conflict interventions in and outside the WANA region, current barriers and deficits in reconstruction and opportunities for WANA-led reconstruction efforts as well as Gulf State donorship.

Recommendations that came out of several working group discussions included the need for reconstructing the production base in WANA, as a method of decreasing consumption, developing an action plan and inviting the private sector to invest, implementing protectionism, especially at times of conflict, and rebuilding human capacity.

Among the participants were also H.E. Mohammed Shtayyeh, Minister of Public Works and Housing in Palestine, H.E. Nabil El-Jisr, Chairman of the Council for Development and Reconstruction in Lebanon, Mr. Arsalan Ghalieh, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, H.E. Ehsan Zia, in Afghanistan, Mr. Bakhtiar Amin, Founder of the International Alliance for Justice and former Minister for Human Rights in Iraq, Dr. Maha Yahya, Regional Advisor on Social Policies at the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in Lebanon and Dr. Mona Hammam, Deputy Assistant Administrator at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Egypt.