A global forum that was held in Bahrain for the first time is a pilot and will be a magnet for the world’s top economists, business leaders and strategic thinkers, said an expert.

The three-day Bahrain Global Forum, organised by International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the world’s leading authority on political-military conflict, opened yesterday (May 14) at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa.

The forum will shape debate about the challenges to economic development, effective international financial regulation, free and fair trade, and regional and global economic governance, said Dr John Chipman, IISS director general.

"This, in particular, needs to be a forum that gives increasing voice to the economists and entrepreneurs from the so-called emerging markets," Dr Chipman said.

"In this more egalitarian world order that we inhabit, discussions here should help develop a consensus on economic and financial issues that grows out of a debate that includes all relevant actors in our diverse, global financial and economic system.

"Perhaps one day, as a result of debates held here, people will not speak just of a Washington consensus, or of a Beijing consensus, but also of a Bahrain consensus, that might command wide attention,” he added.

"But before we get there, what for the moment are some of the themes that we will want to examine this weekend and the questions we will want to answer?”

"First, what will be the relationship between the so-called emerging markets and the established industrialised world on the best ways to govern the now virtually indivisible and certainly interdependent global economies?” Dr Chipman continued.

"Second, what is the right balance in this delicate economic environment between what has been styled state and private capitalism, and what are the methods by which foreign direct investment can be best encouraged today?”

"Third, in what ways to various countries in the world have to diversify their economies and indeed change their national business models to adapt to the world as it is now?

"Fourth, how should countries protect the international economic recovery and also protect the open economic system that normally provides such global benefits?

"Fifth, what new dynamic relationships between regions, especially between the Middle East and Asia, can help promote growth?

"I anticipate that this forum will also throw up other important questions and that new avenues for debate will open,” Dr Chipman concluded.

The forum has attracted leading economic experts from across the globe. – TradeArabia News Service