Abu-Ghazaleh: Investing in
human capital is the Ideal investment

AMMAN - The Arab Association for Social
Security represented by the Association’s President, Dr. Mohammad Karkai, and
the Arab Labor Organization, represented by the Organization’s Director
General, Mr. Fayez Al Mutairi, have both honored HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh,
founder and chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global), in recognition
of his valuable contributions to various communities  in the fields of
knowledge and innovation. The honoring came during the National Seminar on ‘The
Diversity of Financing Sources and Investment Opportunities in the Social
Insurance Corporations to Strengthen Social Protection Programs’.

On this occasion, Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh
expressed his pride and gratitude to the Association and Organization for this
honor, highlighting the importance of the seminar and the role the insurance
institutions play in actively providing insurance protection.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh stated that the optimal
investment is in human capital, giving several recommendations such as
increasing the eligibility age for social security pension, and protecting
employees' insurance rights once they move from one country to another.

He advocated the importance of
post-retirement employment; especially for military retirees who completed
their military duty at an early age, noting that this goes in line with the
recommendation of His Majesty King Abdullah II to establish a rehabilitation
system for retired military personnel.

For his part, Dr. Karkai urged Arab social
security and social insurance institutions to join the Organization and become
active members to contribute to achieving the desired goals and promoting joint
Arab action. He also emphasized that the current economic indicators show a
significant slowing in wage growth, higher inflation rates, and declining
levels of return on investment in various financial assets.

For his part Mr. Al Mutairi affirmed that
social security systems in many Arab countries encounter many challenges; some
are related to specific categories such as retirees, women, and people with
disabilities, while others are associated with coverage and financial
imbalances that threaten the sustainability of the social insurance system,
due, he further explained, to the high cost of pension expenditure to
beneficiaries against the decline in resources caused by future demographic
variables and low return investments. 

The seminar was attended by representatives from
ministries of labor, workers' and employers' organizations, and labor
organizations in the Arab world. That is in addition to the Union of Arab
Chambers, Arab Trade Union Confederation, and Arab social security and social
insurance institutions, as well as the Executive Bureau of Council of
Ministers of Labor & Ministry of Social Affairs in GCC States, and the
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA).