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Global Energy Forum

Jan 9, 2020

Energy sector diversification: Meeting demographic challenges in the MENA region

By Bina Hussein

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is projected to experience significant demographic growth by 2050, growth which will have to be met with commensurate economic expansion and job opportunities, or the region will risk an increase in political instability. To meet this challenge, countries in the region must diversify their economies beyond the energy sector and expand their energy sector beyond hydrocarbons. What are the key trends that MENA countries will have to contend with, what is already being done, and what further steps should be taken?

Energy Markets & Governance Energy Transitions

Global Energy Forum

Jan 8, 2019

Sovereign investors: A means for economic diversification?

By Bina Hussein

Transparency metrics and measures in governance will help sovereign investors build partnerships in a wide range of industries, bolstering countries’ efforts to move beyond reliance on oil.

Energy & Environment Energy Transitions

EnergySource

Mar 20, 2018

Go big or go home: The right diversification strategy for Saudi Arabia?

By Bina Hussein

Rarely a day goes by without a headline about Saudi Arabia and the reforms underway as part of Vision 2030, the plan intended to help Saudi Arabia pivot from an oil-based to a knowledge-based economy. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) is making his rounds internationally, including a much-heralded visit to the United States this […]

Energy Markets & Governance Energy Transitions

Bina Hussein is a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center and former associate director with the program, having joined the Council in 2013.

In this capacity, she focused on oil and gas developments in the Persian Gulf and Middle East as well as economic diversification in the region, manages the agenda for the Council’s annual flagship initiative, the Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi, and ran the Women Leaders in Energy Fellowship. Previously, Hussein worked for the United Nations Development Program as a junior consultant in the Private Sector Development Program in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (2012). From 2009 to 2011, she worked as a social worker for documented refugees and as a paralegal for undocumented immigrants at the Dutch Refugee Organization in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She received an LLB from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in 2011 and holds a master’s degree in international studies with a focus on human rights, energy security, and the Middle East from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver (2014). Hussein was a 2016-2017 Penn Kemble Democracy Forum Fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy.