Visitors

A delegation from the International Union for conservation of Nature (IUCN), visited the Gulf Research Center. IUCN is a global environmental organization and a membership association with more than 1,000 member organizations in 140 countries and it has official observer status at the United Nations General Assembly. The Union’s headquarters are in Gland, near Geneva, Switzerland. IUCN supports governments, NGOs, international conventions, UN organizations, companies and communities to develop and implement laws, policy and best-practice to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable, by mobilizing organizations, providing resources, training people and monitoring results. Dr. Odeh Al Jayoussi, IUCN Regional Director, met with the Chairman of GRC Abdulaziz Sager, and the managers of the GRC Science and Technology and Environment research programs. The purpose of the visit was to explore possibilities of cooperation between GRC and IUCN, especially in the area of capacity building programs related to sustainability, green economy and renewable energies.

Dr. Kristian Coates-Ulrichsen of the Kuwait Programme of the London School of Economics visited the GRC and met with Dr. Christian Koch and Mr. Kareem Mahjoob of the GRC to inform about the current research being conducted at the LSE.

Dr. Koch received in the GRC offices the new Consul-General of Canada, Kris Panday, to discuss issue related to GCC-Canada relations. Mr. Panday is the first Consul-General to be appointed to Dubai.

Dr. Koch held a meeting with Mona Seghal, Jeena Beverridge and Jeffrey Phillips, of the US Governmental Accountability Office (GOA) in Washington DC to discuss US-GCC Relations specifically in relation to the Gulf Security Dialogue.

Dr. Koch discussed current developments in the Gulf states during a visit to the Middle East Policy Council in Washington DC including a meeting with their newly appointed president Frank Anderson

The Chairman of the GRC, Abdulaziz Sager, met with Vasu Gounden, Founder and Executive Director of the African Centre for Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD), Board Member Aziz Pahad, the former Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa, and Hayden Allen, General Manager at ACCORD for Corporate Affairs. They were joined in the meeting by Dr. Christian Koch, Director of International Studies and Dr. Oskar Ziemelis, Director of Cooperation at the Gulf Research Center. The discussion focused on closer relations between the two institutions, ACCORD’s plan for the building of a Green Peace Center in Durban, South Africa, the role of conflict resolution in international affairs as well as regional trends and developments.