A team of over 25 energy experts from the International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE) specializing in technical, economic, environmental, organizational and regulatory aspects visited the Center. A non-profit institution, the Regional Committee for Large Electric Systems (GCC-CIGRE) is an affiliate of CIGRE located in Paris and is mainly devoted to encourage and develop scientific researches and studies in the field of Electricity Systems. The delegation was headed by Dr. Ibrahim Al-Hamoudi, CIGRE Board member and Chairman of the CIGRE Technical Committee. GRC proposes to work jointly with GCC-CIGRE in the electricity sector and other related areas.
Prof. Dr. Dieter Lenzen, President of the Free University of Berlin (FUB), and Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Segbers, Professor of Political Science at the FUB, discussed the status of higher education in the Gulf and the possibilities for German universities in the UAE, as well as setting up a master’s degree program on Global Politics in the country.
A delegation of Iraq academics, which participated in the Iraq symposium organized by GRC, visited the center and was briefed about its activities. They team was introduced to the various sources of information available and ways of accessing the same.
Oliver Juetersonke, Research Coordinator of the Program for Strategic and International Security Studies and Achim Wennmann, Project Coordinator in the Program for the Study of International Organizations at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International Studies discussed institutional relations and considered cooperation possibilities with GRC.
Australian Ambassador to the UAE Noel Campbell and Steve Pinhorn, Senior Middle East and Africa Analyst at the Office of National Assessments of the Australian Government discussed regional developments, with specific focus on Iraq.
Ambassador Bernard Savage, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission for GCC States based in Saudi Arabia, discussed the GCC-EU Research program at the GRC and ways of future cooperation, including the EU’s support for the Executive Learning Program on the EU that the center is scheduled to conduct in September.
A distance-learning student delegation pursuing a course in Gulf politics from the University of Southern Denmark made an informational visit to the center. The group, consisting of 36 professionals associated with different vocations and disciplines, was headed by Dr Lars Erslev Andersen, Associate Professor at the Department of Middle East Studies, and Soren Hove, a PhD scholar and resident at the Centre for Contemporary Middle East Studies at the university. The group is likely to use GRC resources to further their academic pursuits. The visit was the second interaction with the university after Dr. Martin Hvidt spent time at the GRC as part of a research fellowship in January.
