The Gulf In-Depth   (Executive Learning Program )
1 - 5 November, 2006
Venue: Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

As part of its programs, the Gulf Research Center conducts Executive Learning Programs aimed at providing leadership development opportunities in all aspects of public policy. It is the view of the GRC that programs in governmental processes and critical policy issues are essential to understand today's environment and prepare emerging and established leaders to more effectively engage with individuals and institutions throughout the rest of the world.  More Details

The Inclusion of Yemen into the Gulf Cooperation Council
8 - 9 November, 2006
Venue: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This symposium will present and discuss the various issues and developments concerning the current reality and the future of relations between Yemen and the GCC countries with special focus on the strategic, security political and economic prerequisites for the incorporation of Yemen into the GCC. Also it will discuss the importance of economic adaptation of Yemen, its mechanisms and requirements, the potential gains and mutual interests of both Yemen and the GCC states at the political, economic, and security levels. More Details

Identifying Drivers of Political Reform in the GCC Countries
15-16 November, 2006
Venue:: Beirut

The Gulf Research Center and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace have held two meetings in 2004 and 2005 respectively focusing on the status of political reform in the GCC States. These meetings provided a broad overview of factors affecting political reform in the Gulf and an evaluation of the changes that have taken place so far in each country. The first GRC-Carnegie meeting, held in September 2004, made an important contribution to the understanding of the reform process by discussing the broad issues that affect political transformation in the area. More Details

Global Leadership Program - Module 2: Global Economics (Executive Learning Program )
27 November-01 December 2006
Venue: Geneva. Switzerland

A primary focus of the Gulf Research Center is to conduct a variety of high level learning programs with practical policy value. Following the successful establishment of its Executive Learning Program, the Gulf Research Center is organizing a series on “Global Leadership Issues.” The central aim of the course is to improve the leadership skills and knowledge of mid-level professionals concerned with crucial global issues. This includes both the governmental and the private sector. Sensitive topics on issues such as security, economics, and politics will be deeply enmeshed in a process of interaction between leading scholars in those respective fields, as well as, senior officials from the public and private sector. More Details

Meeting the Challenges of the 21st Century: A Dialogue between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia
Date will be announced later
Venue: Institute for Diplomatic Studies, Riyadh  

The Gulf Research Center (GRC), the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and the Institute for Diplomatic Studies, Riyadh, have joined forces to hold a two-day dialogue amongst and between government officials and private experts from the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to discuss current issues of mutual interest. The aim of the meeting is to provide an in-depth look at the key agenda items defining the relationship between the two communities and to encourage a frank and open dialogue that can contribute to the positive evolution of that relationship. More Details

Gulf Yearbook 2006-2007
13 January, 2007
Venue: Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Gulf Research Center (GRC) will hold its fourth annual conference on January 13, 2007 centered around the release and presentation of the GRC"s annual yearbook entitled “Gulf Yearbook 2006-2007.” This publication highlights the main and critical developments of the year for the Gulf region focusing on the major political, economic, security, and social trends. The conference will be opened by the GRC chairman to be followed by individual presentations on the Yearbook’s main findings and conclusions. More Details

Gulf Security: Views and Options
13-14 January, 2007
Venue: Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The security environment in the Gulf region has dominated international headlines for over four decades. Beginning with the oil crisis in the 1970s and covering such events as the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the 1980-1988 War between Iran and Iraq, the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Iraq and subsequent liberation of Kuwait in February 1991, the rise of Islamic militancy throughout the 1990s culminating in the attacks of September 11th, and then the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the issue of Gulf security has been at the central focus of global political attention. More Details

Security Issues and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative: Furthering NATO-Gulf relations
January 20 -21, 2007
Venue: Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The last event co-sponsored by NATO and the Gulf Research Center in September 2005 in Dubai sought to explore the practical possibilities of cooperation within NATO’s Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) and to see how the relationship between NATO and the member states of the GCC can be enhanced and promoted. The findings of this meeting concluded that an expanded role for NATO in the Gulf could contribute to greater security and stability in the region, in keeping with the aims of the ICI which was launched at the Alliance"s Summit in June 2004. NATO’s aim to contribute to long-term global and regional security by offering countries of the broader Middle East region practical bilateral security cooperation is of ever-increasing importance to the Gulf countries today.More Details

Past Events:

Global Leadership Program - Module 1: Global Security  (Executive Learning Program )
3-7 July, 2006
Venue: Geneva. Switzerland

A primary focus of the Gulf Research Center is to conduct a variety of high level learning programs with practical policy value. Following the successful establishment of its Executive Learning Program, the Gulf Research Center is organizing a series on “Global Leadership Issues.  More Details

Laying the foundations for a WMDFZ in the Gulf: approaches to national legislation for WMD agreements
2-3 May, 2006
Venue: Park Hyatt Hotel, Dubai, UAE 

The upcoming workshop will be the third in a series of meetings organized by the GRC as part of its Research project to promote declaring the Gulf region a Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone (GWMDFZ).   More Details

KIEP- GRC Conference
1 May, 2006.
Venue: Gulf Research Center, Dubai

Trading relations between Asia and the GCC have been developing by leaps and bounds in the recent years. While the GCC is the most important energy supplier to Asia, the latter, in turn, exports machinery, cars and engineering goods to the Gulf countries. The GCC countries are also developing closer ties with Asia in security and cultural matters. South Korea is one of the most developed and most important countries in Asia and already entertains close trading relations with GCC. More Details

IMD Business Forum: Leading Virtuoso Teams
April 19, 2006
Venue: Grand Hyatt Hotel, Dubai

It has been shown that in nearly every area of human achievements, from business, to the arts, to science, to sports and in the political arena there are teams of people that produce outstanding and innovative results by getting more than the full-value of the talent potential of the assembled individuals. Such work groups are referred to as Virtuoso Teams. More Details

Premium Members’ Briefing
April 9, 2006
Venue: Gulf Research Center, Dubai

Given the current regional climate, the Gulf Research Center feels it necessary to provide a closer in-depth look into the political and security implications of events in the Gulf region as well as the associated economic repercussions of recent developments.  More Details

GCC Financial Markets: Where Do We Go From Here?
19 March, 2006
Venue: Gulf Research Center, Dubai

The GRC Economics Program at the Gulf Research Center (GRC) invites you to a GRC media workshop on March 19 at GRC, Dubai. The workshop, entitled “GCC Financial Markets: Where Do We Go From Here?” will help journalists and media research departments get a better understanding of international and regional economic trends and factors impacting the GCC stock markets. More Details

Green Gulf: Threats, Challenges and Solutions
8 February, 2006
Venue: American University of Sharjah

Seeking solutions to the environmental issues that on the horizon is top priority today. Environmentalists across the globe are urging governments, authorities and the public at large to change their attitudes, approaches and actions towards the earth’s finite natural resources and the environment.  More Details

Gulf Yearbook 2005-2006
4 January, 2006
Venue: Grand Hyatt Hotel, Duba

The Gulf Research Center (GRC) will hold its third annual conference on January 4, 2006. Entitled “The Gulf in the Year 2005,” the conference will see the release and presentation of the GRC"s annual yearbook entitled “Gulf Yearbook 2005.”  More Details

GRC Workshop - Dynamic Alliances: Strengthening ties between GCC and Asia
4 - 5 January, 2006
Venue: Grand Hyatt Hotel, Duba

The GRC’s 2006 Annual conference “Dynamic Alliances: Strengthening ties between GCC and Asia” will address the GCC’s growing bilateral trade and investment relations with Asia and its correlated political and security implications. More Details

Gulf Research Center in association with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi will held an environment workshop entitled Green Gulf
21 December,2005
Venue: Gulf Research Center, Dubai

The GRC has widened the scope of its activities to include environmental research and awareness activities to facilitate solutions to the problems faced by the region and the world due to the degradation of precious natural resources. More Details

Will Oil Prices Set New Records in 2006?
December 20, 2005 (Tuesday)

Half-day Media Energy Workshop. More Details 

EU-Gulf Relations: enhancing economic, political and Security Cooperation
26 November 2005, Rome

The one-day seminar, in cooperation with Italy's The Istituto Affari Internazionali, hopes to discuss the EU foreign and security policies towards the Middle East as well as the European Union-Gulf developmental, political and security relations. More Details

GRC symposium: The Role of Centers for Research, Political and Strategic Studies in the Arab World: Challenges and Prospects
23-24 November 2005.

The objective of the symposium will be to discuss this crucial topic, pose and address a number of diverse and relevant issues and identify academic experts available at various centers for research and studies in this regard. More Details

Oil Prices - Past, Present and Future
Half-day Media/Energy Sector Workshop 
23 November, 2005

The Gulf Energy Program at the Gulf Research Center hosted a half-day energy workshop for journalists on November 23 at GRC, Dubai. More Details

The Experience of Political Reform in the GCC States: Evaluation & Analysis
16-17 November 2005

Gulf Research Center and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace will hold the workshop entitled:Democracy and Reform Developments in the GCC States. More Details 

The International Energy Outlook 2005 (IEO2005) Arabic version
13 November, 2005

The Gulf Research Center (GRC), with the assistance of the Energy Information Administration (EIA), at the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), will release the Arabic version of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA)"s flagship publication, the International Energy Outlook 2005 (IEO2005) on November 13, 2005.   More Details

GRC Workshop: Current Conditions & Future Prospects of GCC - Iran Relations in the wake of Iran's Presidential Elections
28 - 29 September 2005

As Iran's ninth presidential elections are due in June 2005, the Gulf Research Center (GRC) in association with the University of Durham (UK) will hold a joint workshop entitled 'Current Conditions & Future Prospects of GCC - Iran Relations in the wake of Iran's Presidential Elections'. More Details

Promoting Cooperation and Fostering Relations: NATO-Gulf relations in the Framework of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative
September 26, 2005

The Gulf Research Center together with the NATO Division of Public Diplomacy will be hosting a one-day specialized conference on Promoting Cooperation and Fostering Relations: NATO-Gulf relations in the Framework of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.   More Details

Understanding the European Union
A 5-day Executive Learning Seminar 
1 -5 September, 2005

This event is part of the GCC-EU Partnership Program and focuses on the increasingly important strategic relationship between the Arab Gulf region and the European Union.  More Details

Confronting Terror – Promoting the Arab-British Partnership
A one-day workshop in London
July 28, 2005

The forum is an effort to promote Arab-British partnership in light of the multiple blasts in the British capital on July 7. The event has been designed both to express solidarity with the government and the British people, and also to offer support and insight into how to continue the fight against terror. More Details

GRC Workshop: The Gulf as  A weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone
(GWMDFZ)
30- 31 May, 2005

The conference will be the second in a series of meetings organized by the GRC as part of its recently created Research Program to promote declaring the Gulf region a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Free Zone. More Details

GRC Lecture:
23 May, 2005

Oil for Gold or Oil for Paper? Financial Stability, Gold and the ongoing Rise in Commodity Prices. More Details 

The Social Sciences and Humanities Forum 2005
14 April, 2005

Educational Technologies & Methods in the Social Sciences and Humanities in the GCC States

The fundamental objective of the "The Social Sciences and Humanities Forum in the GCC States" to be held in April 2005 is to create an academic platform for discussion and exchanging views and expertise among scholars and university professors specialized in social sciences and humanities in the GCC States.
More Details

IMD held in collaboration with the Gulf Research Center and Dubai International Financial Center Business Forum on Globalization and New Growth Strategies for Business
13 April, 2005

This event assessed the forces and trends in economic policy and business strategy and the implications arising for transforming the Arab region into a dynamic hub of global business. More Details

The timing of the workshop is quite appropriate, as it coincides with the second anniversary of the outbreak of the war against Iraq. By March 2005, many developments that appear today foggy and opaque might probably grow clearer, especially if general elections take place as scheduled, which would allow for deeper academic analysis and objectivity.   More Details

GRC Workshop on The Future of GCC-US Relations
5 - 6 January, 2005

The Future of GCC-US Relations: Post-US Presidential Elections

The Workshop will hold in Conjunction with GRC's Second Annual Conference. More Details 

 
GRC Second Annual Conference
5 January, 2005

The Gulf in the Year 2004

The conference features the release and presentation of the annual GRC Report "The Gulf in the Year 2004." This report, written by prominent scholars and experts, features an analytical overview of the year's major developments and relates their significance to the political, economic, defense, security and social issues. More Details
 

GRC lecture
15 December, 2004

Role of the Arab Research Centers During the Current Developments

The lecture was delivered by Prof. Ali Eldean Hilal, Professor of political science at the Faculty of Economics, University of Cairo. More Details 

GRC lecture
14 December, 2004

The Implications of Arafat's Death for Palestinian Politics and the Peace Process

The lecture was delivered by Dr. Yezid Sayigh, a former Palestinian adviser and negotiator, and currently a visiting scholar at Pembroke College, Cambridge. More Details

Voices from the Region:The Gulf as a WMD Free Zone

The workshop was a part of the GRC's objective to sponsor and promote a regional disarmament project, based on the principle that all states in the region must reject the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). More Details 

GRC and Bertelsmann Foundation workshop 
23-25 November, 2004

A Window of Opportunity? Europe, Gulf Security and the Aftermath of the Iraq War

This Dubai workshop was an extension of an understanding between GRC and German think-tank Bertelsmann Foundation to build an international relations program on GCC-EU affairs.   More Details

GRC Labor Markets Workshop
October 9, 2004

"Conditions of Labor Markets and the Problem of Unemployment in the GCC Countries"

GRC held a one-day workshop in a bid to dwell academically on the genuine conditions of the labor markets and the problem of unemployment in the GCC countries, as well as identify reliable sources of information in connection with these issues.
Participants at the workshop included a distinguished pool of university professors, economic experts, GCC economic and labor policy-makers, as well as a number of private-sector operators who are often accused of being reluctant to employ national workers.
The workshop debated six key working papers. The themes to be discussed at the workshop : data and statistical sources, general indicators of the GCC labor; unemployment rates in the GCC countries and their major characteristics; reasons behind the rise in unemployment in the GCC countries; assessing GCC policies towards remedying unemployment; the probable impact of rising unemployment and proposals for confronting unemployment.   More Details
 

GRC and Sasakawa Peace Foundation media workshop
October 1, 2004

GRC held a one-day workshop on "Media in the Gulf" in Dubai. Reputed journalists from Asian and Gulf countries participated in the discussion held under the auspices of GRC and Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Japan.

GRC to convenes media symposium
September 30, 2004

"New Trends in the Gulf Media amid Domestic Demands and Foreign Pressures"

The editors-in-chief of major Gulf newspapers attended the symposium. Among the other atendees were the directors of the Gulf news agencies, TV channels, radio stations and a group of scholars and media specialists.    More Details
 

Nato deputy secretary-general visits GRC
September 28, 2004

'Nato looking for regional partners'

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) is on the course to transform itself from being an exclusively military player during the Cold War era to being a political actor, said Nato Deputy Secretary-General Alessandro Minuto Rizzo.

During a visit to the GRC as part of his official visit to the UAE to deliberate on Nato's recent plan to spread its influence in the Middle East, Rizzo emphasized that Nato was a "different and new organization that was looking for partnerships to share its security and defense expertise".

GRC & Carnegie workshop
23-24 September, 2004

"Political Reform in the GCC States: the Current Situation and Future Prospects"

A number of experts, researchers and political activists from the GCC States, the US and Europe participated in the workshop which consisted of six sessions over a two-day period. The sessions were conducted as roundtable discussions, without the presentation of formal papers, but with three very brief initial presentations in each session to stimulate the debate.

The themes of the sessions are: why is political reform taking place now?; what reform steps are different countries taking?; views on reform; problems of political reform; the regional and international context of political reform; and the way forward.         More Details 
 

Iraq - One Year After the War
8 April, 2004

Forum on "A Year of War and Occupation: Current Conditions in Iraq and their Ramifications for the GCC States"   More Details
 

GRC and the German Business Council
3 April, 2004

GRC hosted a lecture by Prof. Peter Scholl-Latour on "A New Balance of Power in the Middle East" at the Emirates Towers Hotel, Dubai. Dr Scholl-Latour outlined his thoughts keeping in view the new developments in Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Social Sciences & Humanities Forum
9-10 March, 2004.

Experts from the GCC countries called on all parties involved with education to kick-start an initiative that would develop well-balanced and sustainable academic systems in a bid to achieve the objectives and aspirations of the people in the region.

Deliberating on the "Future Prospects for Higher Education", participants at the end of the two-day "The Social Sciences and Humanities Forum" emphasized the need to improve the current standing of higher learning since it is one of the crucial levers of development and progress.   More Details

Lecture: Enlarged EU and its Neighborhood
1 March, 2004

Professor Werner Weidenfeld of the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Director of the Center for Applied Policy Research, Munich, and Member of the Executive Board of the Bertelsmann Foundation, Guetersloh, delivered a lecture at the GRC premises on "The Future of the Enlarged European Union and its Neighborhood".

The EU should regard its relations with the GCC as a special partnership based on common key interests and be willing to compromise in areas where conflict seems inevitable, he said. The free trade agreement between the GCC and the EU, currently under negotiation, is necessary, but not a sufficient step to improve relations between the two regional organizations.

 

First Annual Conference
7-8 January, 2004

GRC released its first annual report -- "The Gulf in a Year - 2003" on the sidelines of a workshop entitled "The EU role in the Gulf region"

The two-day workshop examined the myriad factors that shape and steer the EU role in the Arabian Gulf by pinpointing and assessing the development of that role in the post-Soviet era, with a particular emphasis on the period following the second Gulf War.

The differences within the European Union with respect to Arabian Gulf issues, the US policy in the Gulf and the extent to which it constituted a constraint to expanding the European role were discussed. The specialist speakers also looked into the differences in the US and the EU policies toward the Gulf region. 

Lecture: The New Economic situation in the region post Iraq war and
European Union role in the region

22 October, 2003

Advocating a more coherent Middle East-European Union (EU) cooperation model, Professor Nobert Walter impressed upon the need to identify the specifics of compatibility and incompatibility in order to maximize mutual benefits in all sectors.   More Details
 

Lecture: The Arab Gulf and International Relations: Past, Present and Future

20 October, 2003

Based on the premise that "dialogue is the essence of life", Professor Fred Halliday suggested that the future of the Arabian Gulf would depend on the way the evolving politico-socio-economic changes are managed. The long-term challenge in the region, in his opinion, is to ensure a working relationship between the Arab Gulf countries and Iran, and especially between the three big regional players - Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq.  More Details