Arab Knowledge Report 2009

However, this progress remains limited and does not necessarily reflect a vision focusedon establishment of the knowledge society or improvement of knowledge performance.Arab countries are still exporters of primary resources and importers of highvalue-added products with high knowledge content. There must be a focus on theimpossibility of achieving an Arab knowledge and development renaissance throughreliance solely on improvement in economic freedom–even if the latter is supported byintellectual property rights– given the continuation of the restrictions imposed on otherfreedoms, particularly those of thought and of expression. It is not possible to createArab environments that stimulate knowledge without the existence of an integratedpackage of freedoms. Similarly, any hope of the equitable social distribution of the resultsof development will disappear in the absence of a democratic climate that providespopular oversight and fights corruption.The Report will deal in detail with these issues in order, seeking to draw a clearerpicture of many aspects of knowledge in the Arab region and bring together data that willprepare the way, in the widest possible form, for Arab societies to deal realistically withtheir challenges and deficits. Once they have done so, these societies will be capable ofinvesting their available capacities in achieiving a breakthrough to the world of knowledgeand the establishment of the knowledge society to which they aspire.It is not possibleto create Arabenvironmentsthat stimulateknowledge withoutthe existence of anintegrated packageof freedomsPREAMBLE23