Brief

<p>In session titled &ldquo;Navigating a Shifting Global Economic Landscape&rdquo;, Richard Quest, CNN international correspondent, proposed a number of critical questions to Her Excellency Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF. He mainly tackled the changing economic landscape in a volatile political world. He asked HE Lagarde about her views as regards the effect of the worldwide elections - such as the recent US presidential elections, and the major political events, such as the Brexit - on the global economic state. He further tried to understand how she views the EU experience, the new taxation systems in some middle east countries, and her recommendations to overcome all the current and expected economic challenges.</p> <p>HE Lagarde stated that any political event, specially elections, are mainly the peoples&rsquo; choice and have to be respected. There are always positive and negative consequences and every country must focus on its situation and strike a balance to avoid adverse effects. Many countries, most prominent of which is the UAE, adopted numerous promising measures, such as the new taxation system which helps boost the investment environment. Furthermore, the UAE set an innovative model of a country keen to achieve happiness for its people, which necessarily includes economic wellbeing, political stability and security.</p> <p>As regards the EU experience, HE Lagarde stressed that it has its pros and cons, and after all there is more to be done. She concluded the sessions by highlighting that all countries have to be on guard, work on cutting down their deficit, and enforce their cyber-security to protect banks from fraud. She presented three recommendation to avoid the repercussions of any political/ economic shift, namely; countries should be resilient, solid in public finance and have economic buffers; financial linkages between countries should be strong and controlled; and governments should be extremely attentive to excessive inequalities. She also underscored the importance of focusing on financial stability and economic prosperity to reach the ultimate goal: peoples&rsquo; happiness.</p>

Speakers

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