At WEF, entrepreneurs seen as solution for Middle East troubles

DEAD SEA, Jordan — More than 1,100 politicians and business people have come together to find ways to transform stagnant economies of the troubled Middle East and North Africa.

The World Economic Forum’s regional gathering is looking at how to encourage entrepreneurship and technological innovation to create private sector jobs in a region with 30 percent youth unemployment.

Central to the theme, organizers have invited the founders of 100 start-ups from the Arab world, including some from conflict-scarred countries such as Syria, Yemen and Libya.

Two days of sessions began Saturday. Some will look at the Middle East’s civil wars and the fallout from a refugee crisis that has uprooted millions of people in the worst refugee crisis since World War II.

Co-chairs include the German defense minister and the Norwegian foreign minister.