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The Impact of Current Geopolitical Dynamics and Trade Tensions on the MENA Region

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6:30 am January 2026
Add to Calendar 2026-01-03 06:30:00 2026-01-08 20:42:01 The Impact of Current Geopolitical Dynamics and Trade Tensions on the MENA Region Description Location Policy Center Policy Center Africa/Casablanca public

The Policy Center for the New South (PCNS) is co-organizing, alongside the Middle East Economic Association (MEEA), a panel session at the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) Annual Meeting 2026, held in Philadelphia.

This session will examine how geopolitical shifts and increasing trade tensions are reshaping the economic outlook of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Panelists will discuss the implications of intensifying global competition, regional instability, and shifting trade and investment patterns, with a focus on their consequences for economic resilience, regional integration, and policy choices across MENA economies.

The discussion will be moderated by Mahmoud Mohieldin (United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda; Cairo University). Panelists include Ferid Belhaj (Policy Center for the New South / World Bank) and Otaviano Canuto (Policy Center for the New South; former IMF and World Bank).
 

Speakers
Otaviano Canuto
Senior Fellow
Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, Affiliate Professor at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Brookings Institute. Former Vice President and Executive Director at the World Bank, Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Vice President at the Inter-American Development Bank. ...
Ferid Belhaj
Senior Fellow
Ferid Belhaj took up the position of World Bank Vice President for Middle East and North Africa on July 1, 2018. Prior to this, he served as the Chief of Staff of the President of the World Bank Group for 15 months. From 2012 to 2017, Mr. Belhaj was World Bank Director for the Middle East, in charge of work programs in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Iran, based in Beirut, Lebanon. In this capacity, he led the Bank’s engagement on the Syrian refugee crisis and its impact on the region, including the creation of new financing instruments to help countries hosting forcibly displaced people; the ramping up of the Bank drive towards the reconstruction and recovery of Iraq during and after the ISIS invasion and the scaling up of the Bank's commitments to Lebanon and Jordan. Befo ...