The Arab world is changing. In early September, the news featured former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gadhafi's battle to maintain power. Even before Gadhafi's eventual fall, Libyans were already planning for the future of their country.
I met two such Libyans on 7 September at a Revenue Watch workshop on oil revenue management in Beirut, Lebanon. Bringing together civil society leaders from seven Middle Eastern and North African countries—Algeria, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco and Yemen—the training provided an opportunity for all to learn more about developments in the region and how civil society can influence oil revenue management policies for the better. The training covered the institutions, policies and systems that are or should be in place from the moment oil, gas and mining revenues are collected until these funds enter the budget.
In the afternoon, the group dug in the details of sovereign wealth funds, comparing the functioning of the wealth fund in Timor-Leste to the one in Wyoming, which is the richest state per capita in the United States. I overheard a lively "risk-return" discussion between participants from Libya and Iraq. In another group there was broad consensus that changing the policies of an oil fund within its first two years of operation does not convey the right message. From the discussion on whether U.S. bonds are a safe investment, the "lunch and learn" session on government operations in Iraq to the crisp presentation from a Kuwaiti participant on that country's revenue management system, the event created a rich opportunity for participants to compare notes and hear what has worked, and what has not, in one another's countries.
