March 26, 2006A Dutch delegation comprising Manus J.M. van Diemen, First Secretary at the Dutch Embassy in Abu Dhabi, and Anne Philipps and Matthijs Schröeder from the Ministry of Interior, The Hague, discussed issues related to terrorism and Iran.
February 26, 2006Dr Frédéric Launay, Director, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), UAE Project Office, and Environment Adviser to the Secretary-General of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and Razan Al-Mubarak, Managing Director – Emirates Wildlife Society, and Senior Program Officer at the WWF, UAE, held talks to explore possible areas of cooperation in the field of environment and sustainable development, especially biodiversity in the Gulf region.
February 18, 2006
Prof. Dr. Valeria Piacentini of the Research Centre on the Southern System and Wider Mediterranean at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy
February 8, 2006
Bernard Savage, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission in Saudi Arabia
January, 25 2006Claire Tallon, Coordinator for the Abu Dhabi-based Eurogolfe Project visited the Center to discuss further prospects for cooperation, especially in the field of education.
January 23, 2006Director of Geneva Center for Security Policy (GCSP) Ambassador Gerard Stoudmann and Deputy Director of Special Programmes & Management at the GCSP Hrair Balian held talks with the GRC and agreed to conduct a Global Leadership Program beginning in July and cooperate on a training course for Iraqi diplomats to be held in Dubai and Geneva in November. The GRC and GCSP signed a memorandum of understanding in 2004.
January 21, 2006Head of the Political Islam Study Group (PISG) and Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa and Central Asia Directorate at the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs Umej Singh Bhatia and PISG member and Country Officer of the Americas Directorate Adeline Wong held talks with the GRC on areas of mutual interest.
January 15, 2006John Packer, Project Coordinator/Principal Investigator for the Initiative on Conflict Prevention through Quiet Diplomacy, Eli Turk, Chairman of Human Rights Internet - Canada, and Angie Forte, Board Member of Human Rights Internet, held talks on possible areas of cooperation and discussed the idea of the GRC becoming a member of the initiative.
January 14, 2006Prince Dr. Nayef bin Ahmed bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia and Dr. Tariq M. Al-Salloum, Assistant Professor of Administration and Public Policy, Department of Public Administration, College of Administrative Sciences, and Consultant at the Supreme Economic Council in Saudi Arabia.
December 19, 2005Ambassador David Mack, Vice President of the Middle East Institute (MEI), Washington, and former US envoy to the UAE and former deputy assistant secretary for Near East Affairs, discussed regional developments in Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as the US policy in the region. The possibility of expanding the relationship between the GRC and MEI, starting with a Dubai-Washington roundtable discussion via videoconference was also discussed.
June19-20, 2005 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.
June16-17, 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 29 - 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, 2005GRC Chairman Abdulaziz Sager attended the conference on “Nato and the Broader Middle East Region” in Rome.
March 16-17, 2005GRC 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, 2005GRC participated in the Saudi-American Interactive Dialogue organized by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce.
March 5, 2005Dr. 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.
