The Governor of the Palestine Monetary Authority and Chairman of the Board of Governors of Arab Central Banks for the current session, Dr. Jihad Khalil Al Wazir has chaired the meeting of the Permanent Bureau of the Board of Governors of Central Banks and Arab Monetary Institutions, held Sunday in Abu Dhabi. The preparatory meeting which was held to prepare for the next session of the Bureau scheduled for September 2011, was attended by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Saud Al Thani – Governor of Qatar Central Bank and Vice-President of the Bureau, His Excellency Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi – Governor of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), His Excellency Dr. Farouk El Okdah – Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, in addition to His Excellency Dr Jassim Al Mannai, Director General and Chairman of the Board of the Arab Monetary Fund, and in the presence of Dr. Hazem El Beblawi – Advisor and Acting Director of the Legal Department of the Arab Monetary Fund, and Dr. Ibrahim Al-Tuwaijri – Assistant Secretary General for Economic Affairs at the League of Arab States.

In a press conference following the meeting, Dr. Al Wazir stated that the meeting next September which will be held in Doha, will discuss Payment and Settlement Systems, principles for the management of credit risk, as well as challenges faced by banking systems and regulatory institutions and how to deal with recent developments.

He added that the preparatory meeting had touched issues to be discussed by the Board of Governors of Arab Central Banks and the Arab discourse with regard to the vision of what is happening on the international scene, the impact on the economic level, and addressing the consequences resulting from revolutions in the Arab World. In addition to drawing attention to the main sectors affected by the negative current events in the Arab World: tourism, investment and capital markets, pointing out that the most important lesson to be drawn from the crisis is the need to improve coordination between different regulatory authorities, particularly central banks and bodies of the global markets.

At the end of the meeting, Dr. Al Wazir thanked the members of the Permanent Bureau and the Technical Committees on the papers and valuable studies expected to be discussed at the Board level during the next session.

Meanwhile Dr. Al Wazir met with his Excellency Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi - Governor of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and central bank's directors at the headquarters in Abu Dhabi, where he touched on ways to enhance cooperation and communication between the Palestinian Monetary Authority and the Central Bank of the UAE. He also thanked the United Arab Emirates and in particular His Excellency Sultan Al Suwaidi for hosting the meeting of the Permanent Bureau and the exceptional hospitality, wishing the UAE government and people further progress and success.