Policy Roundtables

MAS organizes a series of roundtable meetings programmed annually, to discuss economic and development issues of national priority. These meetings (an average of 10 sessions annually) aim to analyze urgent issues from various angles, with the participation of a select group of specialists and experts. They formulate practical recommendations, putting these within the reach of the decision-maker, citizens, and stakeholders.

In order to prepare for each roundtable session, MAS drafts a background paper on the topic of the meeting, prepared by our researchers or carefully selected external experts. This paper presents analysis and viewpoints from different angles and interests concerning the issue under scrutiny, after which the discussion commences.

This workstream responds to the needs of policy-makers and society. Roundtable meetings analyze economic, social, or development issues, identifying plausible options/solutions and presenting these for effective and free discussion by specialists, stakeholders, and scholars. The goal here is to reach recommendations that provide alternatives to remedying the issue under discussion. MAS also circulates the results of discussions, by publishing them (in the form of press releases) for general use. Moreover, a “policy summary” is prepared after most sessions and presented to relevant government officials. This is also published in the local press, to maximize the general public’s knowledge of economic affairs.