Delegation from CSIS

A delegation of sixteen foreign policy professionals from the United States visited the Gulf Research Center as part of a Gulf Study Tour organized under the auspices of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) of Washington, DC. The group was headed by Dr. Jon B. Alterman, Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East program at CSIS.

A range of subjects were discussed but the main focus of the meeting was on issues relating to Iran and Iraq and the implications of the current situation vis-à-vis the Gulf region. Potential future developments in the region were also addressed. The delegation consisted of:

-Jon Alterman, Director and Senior Fellow of the CSIS Middle East Program.

-Rand Beers, President of the National Security Network.

-Max Boot, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

-Gregory Brosman, Program Coordinator and Research Assistant in the CSIS

 Middle East Program.

-Mackenzie Eaglen, Senior Policy Analyst for defense and homeland security

 issues at The Heritage Foundation.

-Richard Falkenrath, Deputy Commissioner for counter-terrorism in the New

 York City Police Department.

-Matt Gobush, Manager for Executive Communications at ExxonMobil

 Corporation.

-Ken Juster, Executive Vice President of law, policy, and corporate strategy

 at Salesforce.com.

-Rachel Kleinfeld, Founder and Executive Director of the Truman National

 Security Project.

-Haim Malka, Deputy Director and Fellow of the CSIS Middle East Program.

-Peter Ogden, Senior Policy Analyst for national security and international 

 policy at the Center for American Progress.

-Mitchell B. Reiss, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Professor of Law

 and Government at the College of William & Mary.

-Mara Rudman, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and

 President of Quorum Strategies.

-Danny Sebright, Associate Vice President at the Cohen Group.

-Dan Shapiro, Vice President of Timmons and Company, Inc.

-Lee Wolosky, Partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP and Adjunct Professor

 in International Affairs at Columbia University.

Volker Nienhaus – President University of Marburg

Ali Ahmed Saleh, Consul General of the United Republic of Tanzania and Amb Mohammed M H Mzale, Director of Middle East Dept, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Internal Cooperation, Dar es Salaam.

A delegation of the German city of Hamburg visited GRC and were briefed about the GCC economies and their potential. The delegation was headed by Kristin Augsburg, Hamburg Representative in Dubai and comprised Ulrich Brehmer, the Managing Director of the Hamburg chamber of commerce, his colleague Dr. Cristiana Cicoria and Christian Giesbrecht of Deutsche Bank Hamburg.

Bradley Bowman – US Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Prof Bernd Kubbig – Hessische Stiftung  fuer Friedens und Konfliktforschung

Bilahari Kausikan – See title in Golf Forum 2008 participants list please

Mariam Al-Hamady, Head of Environmental Awareness Department at the Federal Environment Agency (FEA), discussed future cooperation between GRC and FEA in the environmental awareness, training and research.

Mr. Gopinath Pillai, Ambassador to Iran, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore

Mr. Bilahari Kausikan, Second Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore

Mr. Bernie Ho Siak Khong, Country Officer, Middle East, North African and Central Asia Directorate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore

Mr. Dileep Nair, Consul-General of the Republic of Singapore Dubai, UAE

Paul Barnes, Portfolio Manager, QIC, Australia

Anthony Bubalo, Program Director, West Asia, Lowy Institute for International Policy, Australia

Stephane Andre, Research Analyst, Vice President, Alliance Bersnstein Australia

Aiden Bradley, Director-Senior Energy Analyst, Head of Energy, Resources and Commodities, Australia

Ryoji Tateyama, a professor of the National Defense Academy, Japan.

He is a specialist in national security and international politics, especially Palestine-Israel conflict.

Presented a paper titled “Security challenges in the Broader Middle East Region” at the international conference of Nato and Gulf countries – “Facing common challenges through the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative” – in Kuwait.

Attended the third Gulf Dialogue organized by the International Institute of Strategic Studies in Bahrain.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Participated in the Regional Civil Society Forum organized in Manama by the United Nations Environment Program-Regional Office for West Asia. More than 35 representatives of the West Asian and North African civil societies discussed the region’s input for the eighth Global Civil Society Forum to be held in February 2007 in Nairobi, prior to the 24th session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum scheduled for 5-9 February.

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”.

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”

GRC, Teri initiate ‘Green Gulf’ project

The Dubai-based Gulf Research Center (GRC) and New Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) signed a wide-ranging co-operation agreement on Monday to foster green thinking in the region.

According to GRC Chairman Abdulaziz Sager: “The joint effort aims to promote the concept of a “Green Gulf” that would focus on the natural resources of the region and the state of the environment, both critical to the future of the Gulf and world. Our objective is to create awareness among the public.”

In joining hands with Teri, “we hope to draw from their “Green India 2047” project, which envisions a cleaner and greener environment,” Sager added.

Teri Director-General Dr. RK Pachauri, who is also Chairman of the Geneva-based Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, said: “India and the Gulf have a long history of cultural and social interaction, but this has not been converted into collaborative relationships in the scientific, academic and intellectual fields.”

The GRC-Teri partnership “is an attempt to join hands in solving some of the most critical problems facing humanity in the form of unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. It is particularly critical for the Gulf region to manage all its resources – including land, air and water – in a manner that helps to meet fully the needs of the present as well as future generations. Our collaboration is a small but significant step in that direction,” Pachauri added.

In outlining the first steps towards achieving the common vision, GRC chairman said “we intend to target and mould young minds, because children are the catalyst for change. We hope energy-related companies and institutions will cooperate toward this end.”

With a focus on research activities in the fields of energy, environment, and sustainable development, Teri – set up in 1974 – is a unique developing county institution with five regional centers in India and presence in five other countries, including the UAE.

GRC Awarded Distribution Rights for Arab Human Development Report 2004

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has awarded the world-wide distribution rights for the Arabic hardcopy and digital versions as well as the English digital version of the Arab Human Development Report 2004 to the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center (GRC).

Titled “Towards Freedom in the Arab World”, the report will be released by UNDP on April 5. This publication, which is the third such annual report, is the culmination of an intellectual exercise that not only highlights problems plaguing the Arab world, but offers solutions to overcome them as well. The publication has aroused great interest every year since the 2002 report identified three key deficits – freedom, women’s empowerment and knowledge.

The GRC-UNDP agreement also allows the Dubai-based think tank to promote, sell and distribute the digital English versions of the 2002 and 2003 reports.

While the Arabic digital copy version is available free of charge through the center’s website (www.grc.ae) as a downloadable file, the English digital copy will be available for a nominal cost of $10 per download.

The Arabic hardcopy version will be made available both through the Gulf Research Center and its distribution channels comprising a wide retail network.

For more details, contact sales@grc.ae

A two-day symposium – ‘Iraq and its neighboring states: Reciprocal views’ – organized by GRC under the patronage of Supreme Council Member and Sharjah Ruler Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohamed Al-Qasimi, ended with a call to unify efforts to save Iraq from its current dilemma.  (English)   (Arabic)

GRC hosted first meeting of Consortium of Research Institutes, Project on Regional Co-operation and Security in the Middle East and North Africa (English)  (Arabic)

• Qatar University hosts conference on EU-GCC relations

  Source Name: Gulf Times
  Date: May 01, 2013

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• Arab Spring enhanced EU-GCC ties

  Source Name: The Peninsula
  Date: April 30, 2013

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• Tension rises between Iran and Gulf countries

  Source Name: Al-Ahram (weekly online)-Egypt
  Date: April 29, 2013

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• Pattern seen in alleged chemical arms use in Syria

  Source Name: ABC News Online
  Date: April 29, 2013

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• Building strong Saudi-Japan ties

  Source Name: Arab News
  Date: April 28, 2013

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• US looks to allies to secure Arabian Gulf

  Source Name: The National
  Date: April 25, 2013

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• Lockheed's pitch for Gulf defence: fast as a bullet, wide as the sea

  Source Name: The National
  Date: January 31, 2013

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• Abu-Ghazaleh calls for a change in the traditional learning system

  Source Name: AME Info
  Date: May 31, 2012

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• Syrian Forces Attack Hama Before UN Security Council Meets

  Source Name: Bloomberg.com
  Date: January 30, 2012

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• Suicide bomber kills 33 at Shiite funeral in Iraq

  Source Name: Associated Press
  Date: January 30, 2012

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