December 5,2006 

Made a presentation titled "The GCC economies between oil dependence and diversified growth" at the Middle East-North Africa Coatings Conference in Dubai.

November 26-27, 2006 

Participated in a two-day workshop that explored the feasibility of strengthening social science research in the Middle East/Arab region by establishing an Arab Social Science Research Council (ASSRC). Held at the Dubai School of Government (DSG), the event was co-sponsored by the West Asia and North Africa Office of the Population Council, the International Development Research Centre, the Social Science Research Council, the UNDP Regional Bureau of Arab States and the DSG.

A good part of the discussion revolved around a report on the possibility of establishing a Center for Economic and Social Policies in the Arab Countries (CESPAC), which was prepared by the GRC for the UNDP in 2005. The workshop also focused on the current state of social science research in the region, how best to use information and computer technology to enhance social science research, and how to work toward a new ASSRC, including structure, legal form, functions, financing, etc.

24-26 November

Presented a paper titled "Regional flashpoints: Gulf" at the Helenic Foundation Conference on "Solving the security puzzle in the Mediterranean and the Broader Middle East, in Athens.

November 22, 2006

Co-chaired a symposium titled "Towards a new partnership between Japan and GCC� and presented a paper on "GCC-Japan relations: growth and sustainability�. The event was organized by the Japan Bank of International Cooperation to mark the opening of its representative office in Dubai, and was attended by a high-level official delegation from the GCC governments and several top executives representing the cream of Japanese private sector.

November 20, 2006

Delivered a lecture about the economic potential of the GCC countries at a seminar of Borealis and Borouge company members in Abu Dhabi. The event was organized by the Lausanne-based International Institute for Management Development (IMD). After introducing the mainly European audience to some historical, political and economic outlines of the GCC, the lecture stressed the investment and development opportunities of the region, especially those in the fields of oil and gas (upstream), petrochemicals and energy-intensive industries like aluminum. The increase of trade with Asia and the potential of the GCC to function as a trading hub between Europe and Asia ranked highly during the discussion.

Presented a paper at a symposium " "Challenges and Threats to the Environment - Lessons from the Past to Shape the Future" �" organized by the Environmental Center for Arab Towns (ECAT) in Dubai. The presentation titled “Green Gulf Study: waste in the GCC countries” analyzed the waste profile of the GCC region and the current waste management, treatment and disposal policies, and explained the GRC’s next environment project �" Green Gulf 2020.

November 9-10

Presented a paper titled "GCC-India ties: economy first, what next?" at the Indian and West Asia-North Africa in the era of globalization seminar conducted by the Centre for West Asian and African Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. The premise of the paper was that increasing economic ties will impact the political and security dynamics too.

October 26-28

Attended the 7th International Security Forum “New risks and threats: The challenge of securing state and society,” in Zurich. The GRC presented papers on “The Gulf after Iraq” in the session on “Middle East 2006: change and transition”; and “Oil wealth and the challenge of democratizing the Middle East rentier states” in the session on “Democracy versus stability? Resource wealth in Russia, Eurasia, and the Middle East”. The GRC also served as a respondent in the panel on “The Middle East and the future of Transatlantic relations”.

October 23-24

Participated in the 17th Bundeswehr and Gesellschaft Forum in Berlin. It was organized by the “Welt am Sonntag” newspaper and entitled “The limits of security in an insecure world” .

July 26, 2006

Spoke about “Saudi Arabia and Global Oil Security Supply” at the Windsor Energy Forum in London.

July 25, 2006

Presented a paper on “Saudi Stock Markets” at the Arab Financial Forum in London.

July 24, 2006

Took part in an OECD-MENA roundtable discussion on “Sustainable Capital Markets Development in the Gulf, Middle East and North Africa, which was organized in London.

July 20, 2006

Attended a meeting on “Gulf Strategic Security” organized by the by MEC consultancy in London.

July 16-17, 2006

Presented a paper titled “GCC Economic Reform: Increasing the Private Sector Role,” at a workshop on “Meeting the Challenges of Reform in the Gulf” organized by the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.

July 14-15, 2006

Presented a paper on “Gulf Security and Cooperation Environment Debate” at the 10th Kronberg Talks in Germany.

July 4-6, 2006

Presented a paper on “Redefining the Rules of Engagement for Expatriates in the Gulf” at The Global Gulf conference organized by the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom.

June 25-27, 2006

Presented a paper on "The Principles of Discrimination and Selectivity in Middle East's Non-proliferation Policy," at a conference on "The Middle East 2006: Change and Transition," organized by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and Rand Crown Center in Gstaad, Switzerland.

June 25-27, 2006

Presented a paper on "The Principles of Discrimination and Selectivity in Middle East's Non-proliferation Policy," at a conference on "The Middle East 2006: Change and Transition," organized by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and Rand Crown Center in Gstaad, Switzerland.

June 17-20, 2006

The GRC presented a paper on the "Green Gulf" study in the "Desert and Compacting Desertification" symposium organized by the Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Environment and Water Resources in Oman to commemorate the World Day to Combat Desertification.

The GRC also took part in the field visit to Al-Jebel Al-Akhdar region in Oman organized by the Sultan Qaboos University. The visit was intended to get acquainted with the area, which will be part of a research project on conservation and sustainable development, and in which the GRC will be involved. The project aims to study all aspects of flora and fauna, as well as the socio-economic impacts, environmental costs and benefits.

June 11-16, 2006

Attended the Second World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES) conference in Amman. The WOCMES is a gathering of scholars, researchers, students and professionals drawn from a broad range of educational and other institutions, organizations and associations from around the world. What brings this global community together is a common interest in the study of the Middle East, North Africa and the Muslim states of Central Asia, in addition to those areas of the world directly or indirectly affected by developments in these regions.

The GRC also participated in the book fair that was held on the sidelines of the conference. Princess Sumaieh bint Al-Hassan visited the GRC Book Stall.

May 29, 2006

Took part in the foreign trade conference organized by the German Near and Middle East Association (NUMOV), which took place in the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin on May 29. Several ambassadors and high-ranking officials of the German embassies in the region and embassies of Middle East countries in Germany, as well as representatives of the Federal Foreign Office focused on the current economic situation and business and investment opportunities in several countries of the Near and Middle East.

May 14-16, 2006

The GRC co-sponsored and co-organized a workshop titled "Current situation and the future of Arab Deserts" along with Damascus-based Arab Center for Arid Zones and Dry Lands in Damascus. The workshop was held to commemorate the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. On the sidelines of the event, the GRC presented the Green Gulf Study, which was conducted by the Center, in cooperation with New Delhi-based TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute).

May 4-6, 2006

Participated in the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) Advisory Board meeting in Geneva.

April 26-28, 2006

Participated in the first Euro-Arab Dialogue Forum entitled "Towards Strategic Euro-Arab Partnership" in Paris. Presented a paper on in the session on "Youth Education and Development Policies", focusing on the need to politicize Saudi youth to ensure their greater participation in development. The paper suggested ways to train young Saudis on political participation, civil debates, and generate a strong national identity and responsibility. The forum was held under the patronage of French President Jacques Chirac and was attended by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, as well as many prominent European and Arabic scholars and politicians.

April 20-22 2006

Presented a paper of recommendations on "Maintaining Security in the Broader Middle East" at a conference organized by Centre for Policy Studies in Moscow in the context of Russia's G8 Presidency. Titled "G8 Global Security Agenda: Challenges & Interests: Towards the St. Petersburg Summit", the conference was held in coordination with the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

April 12-14, 2006

The GRC participated in the Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (GETEX), Dubai. The event is the largest education fair in the Middle East and Asia. The GRC and Freie Universaitat Berlin (FU Berlin) have entered into an agreement to institute a distance-learning Master's Degree Program in International Relations in Dubai. Students will be able to obtain a fully accredited degree certified by the FU, Berlin. The program is a two-year Internet-based online arrangement with teaching sessions conducted in both Dubai and Berlin.

March 29-April 7, 2006
Participated in the Abu Dhabi Book Fair.

March 28, 2006
Took part in "Doha Debates" program hosted by Tim Sebastian and broadcast on BBC World TV on the issue of Iran and regional security.Attended Indian Commerce and Industry Minister's lecture on "India on the fast track" in Dubai.

March 28, 2006
Attended Indian Commerce and Industry Minister's lecture on "India on the fast track" in Dubai.

March 26, 2006
Participated in the annual plenary meeting involving members of the Arab Reform Initiative in Madrid.

March 25-26, 2006
Attended the second GCC-India Business Conference in Muscat. The event involved the commerce ministers of the GCC countries and India, the GCC secretary-general, and over 500 businesspeople from both sides, and was meant to strengthen and promote economic relations.

March 24-25, 2006
Took part in a workshop in Spain on "Democratic transitions in Europe and Latin America: what relevance for the Arab world?" organized by Fride and Clubde Madrid.

March 22-26, 2006
Moderated one of the workshops at the Seventh Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting in Florence, Italy. It was organized by the Mediterranean Programme of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in Florence and Montecatini Terme and brought together about 250 scholars from the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and elsewhere.

March 19-20, 2006
Participated in the Evian Group Arab Region Meeting - "Facing the Challenges of Globalization: Generating Regional Dynamics and Setting an Agenda" - in Cairo.

March 16, 2006
Attended a lecture - "Gulf Security in the Global Era" - at the American University of Cairo.

13-21 March, 2005
Participated in the Bahrain Book Fair

12 March 2006
Attended a workshop on "Weapons of mass destruction in the region: Political, security and environmental consequences" organized by the Emirates Institute of Diplomacy in Abu Dhabi. The workshop was attended by heads of departments and under-secretaries, in addition to the UAE Foreign Ministry's diplomatic cadres.

5-7 March 2006
Co-sponsored and participated in the first international conference on "The State of the Gulf Ecosystem: Future and Threats" organized by the United Arab Emirates University and The Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society, Canada.

26-28 February 2006
Participated in a seminar titled "Administrative Vision in National Duty" in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

27 February 2006
Corporate Social Responsibility workshop on United Nations Global Compact titled "Creating a Sustainable Business", organized by the Emirates Environmental Group in Dubai.

11-12 February 2006
Took part in the United Nations Development Programme Advisory Board meeting in Amman..

29 January 2005-1 February 2006
Presented a paper titled "Managing foreign workforce in the Gulf: Redefining the rules of engagement" at the 8th Asian Security Conference organized by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi. The theme of the conference was "Changing Security Dynamic in West Asia: Relevance for the Post 9-11 Systemic".

25 December 2005
Attended a lecture delivered by Matteo Legrenzi of the Superior School for Advanced Studies, Venice, Italy, on 'GCC Defense Cooperation: Beyond Symbolism?' at Zayed University in Dubai.

20 December, 2005
Participated in the Sharjah Book Fair

Dec. 5-6, 2005
"Arab and world media: getting it right' conference in Dubai - Discussant for the session on "Inside Riyadh" and presentation on "Sound bites and stereotypes: US think tanks and Arab Muslim image in the media (2001-2005)".

December 2-4, 2005
The GRC took part in the Second Gulf Security Dialogue organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Manama.

Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2005
Bertelsmann Foundation workshop in Berlin - "Concept for a System for Security and Cooperation in the Gulf Region"

September 28 - October 1, 2005
Second Arab Education Forum - "Higher education and future prospects" - organized by the Arab Though Foundation in Beirut.

September 25-27, 2005
First Arab Translation Forum - "Translation in the Arab World: Current conditions and prospects" - organized by the Arab Thought Foundation in Beirut. The GRC presented a research paper - "Lost or found in translation" - which dealt with the translation problems in the Arab world.

September 16-18, 2005
Third IISS Global Strategic Review conference in Geneva, which deliberated on 'Evolving Threats, Rising Powers and Systemic Change'.

September 12-16, 2005
"Renaissance, Representation and Identity" - First annual joint conference of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) and the European Association for Middle Eastern Studies (EURAMES) in Durham, England.

September 7-11, 2005
Halki International Seminar on 'Forging Regional Cooperation', a NATO Advanced Research workshop organized by the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) in cooperation with the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan and Eunomia, a project managed by the Greek Ombudsman. The workshop focused on 'Security Sector Reform in Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean: Lessons and Challenges'.

June 26-28, 2005
Annual conference on 'The Middle East: Changing strategic environment' organized jointly by RAND's Center for Middle East Public Policy and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy in Switzerland.

June 19-20
Conference on 'Concept for a system for security and cooperation in the Gulf' organized by The Bertelsmann Stiftung and the Policy Planning Staff, Federal Foreign Office, Germany, in Berlin.

June 16-17, 2005
Participated in the meeting of experts on political, social and strategic developments in Saudi Arabia held under the auspices of Clingendael - The Netherlands Institute of International Relations - at The Hague.

May 26-29, 2005
Attended a workshop entitled 'Evolution of the threat spectrum and the implications for security sector governance in the Euro-Atlantic area' organized by the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces in Sofia, Bulgaria.

May 16-17, 2005
The GRC held several rounds of discussions with an Indian think tank - The Energy and Resources Institute - in New Delhi on ways to cooperate on developmental and environmental issues in the Gulf, especially solutions to handle oil spills, greenhouse technologies, IT solutions, green buildings and waste management. The joint program will include training and exchange of researchers, as well as devising an education module for inculcating and creating awareness about the environment issues.

May 16, 2005
The GRC briefed the officials of the UAE Foreign Ministry in Abu Dhabi about the latest developments in the region and gave strategic insights on the same.

May 14, 2005
The GRC participated in the constituent meeting of the Gulf Press Union and the election to its General Secretariat in Bahrain.

April 2-3, 2005
GRC Chairman Abdulaziz Sager presented a paper on "GCC-EU relations" at the Euro-Gulf Conference in Kuwait.

March 23 & 30, 2005
Dr Christian Koch, Director of EU-GCC Relations Program, attended the fifth Doha Forum for Democracy and Foreign Trade organized by the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting brought together about 250 participants from diverse countries like the US, France, Peru, the Seychelles, China and Albania. Discussion focused on the role of women in development and building a democratic society; the role of education in democracy and development; the concept and aspects of good governance; the social dimension of free trade; the role of civil society organizations in the creation of a democratic atmosphere and raising the awareness of public opinion; and the role of media in the creation of a democratic climate.

March 18, 2005
GRC Chairman Abdulaziz Sager attended the conference on "Nato and the Broader Middle East Region" in Rome.

March 16-17, 2005
GRC presented a paper on "What are the Parameters to Follow? Political Reform Measures from a GCC Perspective" at the Sixth Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting in Florence, Italy.

March 7-9, 2005
GRC participated in the Saudi-American Interactive Dialogue organized by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce.

March 5, 2005
Dr. Christian Koch, Director of the GCC-EU Relations Program at GRC, participated in the UAE-German Forum held in honor of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's visit to the UAE. Held under the theme of working toward a strategic partnership, the forum featured UAE and German businessmen outlining economic opportunities from different perspectives, a keynote address by the chancellor and the signing of agreements between the UAE and German firms worth about 5.5 billion dirhams.
 

March 1-2, 2005
Dr Mustafa Alani, Senior Advisor and Program Director of Security and Terrorism Studies at GRC, participated in the 15th International Conference on the Persian Gulf in Tehran. The discussions were held under the banner "Persian Gulf: Regional security and cooperation in the process of changing world politics".

GRC Chairman Mr Abdulaziz Sager visited South Africa between August 30 - September 1, 2004. His itinerary ran as follows:

August 30 - Meetings with Professor Virginia Gamba, Director, Safer Africa, Pretoria, and Dr. Eddie Maloka, Chief Executive Officer, Africa Institute of South Africa. (www.Aisa.org.za)

August 31 - Visited L.N. Le Roux, Major General (Retd.), Head, Defense Sector Program at the Institute for Security Studies (www.iss.org.za), Pretoria, and the Department of Foreign Affairs, South Africa.

September 1 - Talks with Dr. Greg Mills, South Africa Institute of International Affairs (www.saiia.org.za), University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and Dr Garth Le Pere, Executive Director, Institute of Global Dialogue (www.igd.org.za).

Mr Sager presented a paper titled "The Concept of National Security in Kuwait" at a workshop on "Challenges of Security Governance in the Middle East " held at the Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces in Geneva.

May 7, 2004

Made concluding remarks following a panel discussion at the International Ambassadorial conference on "Nato, the Mediterranean and Wider Region of the Middle East" in Rome.

April 19-20, 2004

Presented a paper titled "Nato and Gulf Security" at a conference on "Nato's Transformation & Gulf Security" convened by Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Rand Foundation in Doha.

April 17-18, 2004

GRC Research Manager Dr. Ahmed Saif and Gulf in the Media Editor Dr. N. Janardhan attended the 2004 Eurogolfe Conference on " Gulf Countries between Globalization and New World Disorder - Comparing European and Gulf Perspectives " held in Abu Dhabi . They were part of the discussion panel on "Good governance and the rule of law in the Gulf" and "Recomposition of the Arab media scene: The Al-Jazeera phenomenon" respectively.

April 7-16, 2004

GRC participated in the 14th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair at the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi . The center displayed its latest publications and translations of books, research papers and reports.

April 5, 2004

GRC Chairman Mr Abdulaziz Sager attended the fourth Qatar Conference on Democracy and Free Trade in Doha, organized by the Gulf Studies Centre, Qatar University , in collaboration with the Qatar Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

March 24-28, 2004

GRC research manager Dr. Ahmed Saif attended a conference organized by Schumann Center for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in Monticatini , Italy . His paper was titled "Politics of survival in Yemen - 1978 - 2003" on the theme "Durability and longevity of authoritarians in the Arab world."