Director General of Arab Labor Organization (ALO) Ahmed Luqman on Wednesday lauded the initiative launched by His Highness the Amir to set up a fund to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Arab world.
"The initiative of His Highness the Amir stressed the importance of highlighting the SMEs in the Arab world as they are most growing sectors that combat rapidly the problem of unemployment," Luqman told KUNA on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the 41st session of Arab Labor Conference being held in Cairo.
Luqman warned that unemployment affects political stability in the Arab countries, pointing out the ALO called for reconsidering social, and economic policies and linking development to recruiting.
He underlined the importance of improving labor conditions in the Arab world in the wake of increasing rate of joblessness after 2010 affected by retreat of tourism and investment as well as budgets' deficit.
"The rate of unemployment increased by 17 percent in 2013, which means about 20 million people have no jobs," he added.
Luqman called for facing political and economic variables and enhancing Arab joint cooperation in all domains.
"Social problems should be solved to achieve stability in the Arab world," he said, referring to all resolutions taken in the Arab summits to address all these problems.
The 41st session of Arab Labor Conference included launching an Arab network for setting up a mechanism to increase communication among employers and provide data on Arab labor markets.