22nd Arab-US Policymakers Conference

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Oct. 22		Oct. 23
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS Mr. David Bosch Dr. John Duke Anthony COPING WITH KALEIDOSCOPIC CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST Ambassador (Ret.) Chas Freeman U.S.-ARAB ENERGY COOPERATION Dr. Herman Franssen Ms. Sarah Ladislaw Mr. Kevin Book Ambassador (Ret.) Thomas Graham Dr. Shihab Kuran Ms. Randa Fahmy Hudome KEYNOTE ADDRESS HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal KEYNOTE ADDRESS General Lloyd Austin III U.S.-ARAB DEFENSE COOPERATION Mr. Christopher Blanchard Mr. David Des Roches Mr. Robert Sharp Dr. Janet Breslin-Smith GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL: ROLE IN REGIONAL DYNAMICS Dr. John Duke Anthony Mr. Jason Buntin Dr. Abdullah AlShayji Dr. Ken Katzman Mr. Michael Buonvino Ambassador Richard Schmierer		IRAQ-U.S. RELATIONS: A VIEW FROM BAGHDAD H.E. Ambassador Lukman Faily ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS: A VIEW FROM THE LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES H.E. Ambassador Dr. Mohammed Alhussaini Alsharif THE PALESTINIAN FUTURE H.E. Ambassador Maen Areikat Dr. Thomas Mattair Mr. Bill Corcoran Mr. Chris McGrath Ms. Leila Hilal GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS: SYRIA, LEBANON, IRAQ, & IRAN Dr. John Iskander Dr. Trita Parsi Dr. Judith Yaphe Dr. Bassam Haddad Dr. David Lesch Dr. Michael C. Hudson REMARKS ON MODEL ARAB LEAGUE HRH Prince Abdulmajeed Bin Abdulilah bin Abdulaziz Al Sa'ud KEYNOTE ADDRESS HRH Prince Abdulaziz Bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Sa'ud Ambassador (Ret.) James Smith U.S.-ARAB BUSINESS, FINANCE, AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT Ambassador (Ret.) Ford Fraker Ambassador (Ret.) Patrick Theros Mr. Ken Close Ms. Nahlah Al-Jubeir Mr. Nathan Regan Ambassador (Ret.) Dr. Rene Leon GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS: EGYPT & ARAB NORTH AFRICA H.E. Ambassador Mohamed M. Tawfik Ms. Elizabeth Wossen Dr. Paul Sullivan Mr. Karim Haggag Ms. Alexis Arieff Dr. Nejib Ayachi ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS: VIEWS FROM THE MEDIA Dr. Andrew Parasiliti Commodore (Ret.) Abdulateef Al-Mulhim Mr. Steven Clemons

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

9:00 - 9:15 am: WELCOME & INTRODUCTIONS

Speakers:

Mr. David Bosch - Chairman, Board of Directors, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.

Dr. John Duke Anthony - Founding President and CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations, and author, inter alia, of Arab States of the Lower Gulf: People, Politics, Petroleum; Historical and Cultural Dictionary of the Sultanate of Oman and the Emirates of Eastern Arabia; and The United Arab Emirates: Dynamics of State Formation.

9:15 - 10:00 am: COPING WITH KALEIDOSCOPIC CHANGE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
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AUDIO (.mp3)
TRANSCRIPT

Speaker:

Ambassador Chas Freeman - Chairman of the Board, Projects International, Inc., a Washington, D.C.−based development firm specializing in international joint ventures, acquisitions, and other business operations for its American and foreign clients; former President, Middle East Policy Council; former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (1993-94), earning the Department of Defense’s highest public service awards for his roles in designing a NATO-centered post-Cold War security system and in reestablishing defense and military relations with China; former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm); Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the U.S. mediation of Namibian independence from South Africa and Cuban troop withdrawal from Angola; and author, Interesting Times: China, America, and the Shifting Balance of Prestige; America’s Misadventures in the Middle East; The Diplomat’s Dictionary (Revised Edition); and Arts of Power: Statecraft and Diplomacy.

10:00 - 11:30 am: U.S.-ARAB ENERGY COOPERATION
VIDEO
AUDIO (.mp3)
TRANSCRIPT

Chair:

Ms. Randa Fahmy Hudome - President, Fahmy Hudome International; General Counsel, American Egyptian Strategic Alliance; former Associate Deputy Secretary of Energy; Member, Board of Directors, National Council on U.S-Arab Relations.

Speakers:

Dr. Herman Franssen - Executive Director, Energy Intelligence Group; former Senior Associate, Energy and National Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Ms. Sarah Ladislaw - Co-Director and Senior Fellow, Energy and National Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Mr. Kevin Book - Co-Founder and Head of Research, ClearView Energy Partners, LLC; Senior Associate, Energy and National Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Member, National Petroleum Council.

Ambassador Thomas Graham - Executive Chairman, Board of Directors, Lightbridge Corporation; Member, International Advisory Board, United Arab Emirates; former U.S. diplomat.

Dr. Shihab Kuran - President, SunEdison Advanced Solutions.

12:00 - 2:00 pm: LUNCHEON & KEYNOTE ADDRESS
VIDEO
AUDIO (.mp3)
TRANSCRIPT (.pdf)

Speaker:

HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal - Chairman, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United Kingdom and to the United States of America; former Director General, General Intelligence Directorate, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

2:00 - 2:30 pm: KEYNOTE ADDRESS
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AUDIO (.mp3)
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Speaker:

General Lloyd Austin III - Commander, United States Central Command; former Vice Chief of Staff, United States Army; former Commander, U.S. Forces-Iraq (from September 2010 through completion of mission in December 2011); former Director, Joint Staff, Pentagon.

2:30 - 4:00 pm: U.S.-ARAB DEFENSE COOPERATION
VIDEO
AUDIO (.mp3)
TRANSCRIPT

Chair:

Mr. Christopher Blanchard - Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.

Speakers:

Mr. David Des Roches - Associate Professor and Senior Military Fellow, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University; National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Malone Fellow in Arab and Islamic Studies.

Mr. Robert Sharp - Assistant Professor, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University.

Commentators:

Dr. Janet Breslin-Smith - former Professor of National Security Strategy and Chair of the Department of National Security Strategy, National War College.

4:00 - 5:30 pm: GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL: ROLE IN REGIONAL DYNAMICS
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AUDIO (.mp3)
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Chair:

Dr. John Duke Anthony

Speakers:

Mr. Jason Buntin - Director for Europe and Middle East Affairs, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Dr. Abdullah AlShayji - Chairman, Department of Political Science, Kuwait University; author, Kuwait's Ceaseless Quest for Survival in a Hostile Environment.

Dr. Ken Katzman - Specialist in Middle East Affairs in the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.

Mr. Michael Buonvino - Vice President for Global Development, Hill International.

Ambassador Richard Schmierer - Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy, Bureau of Near East Affairs, U.S. Department of State; former U.S. Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman.

6:00 - 8:00 pm: RECEPTION AT THE ROYAL EMBASSY OF SAUDI ARABIA

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

9:00 - 9:15 am: KEYNOTE ADDRESS
AUDIO (.mp3)
TRANSCRIPT (.pdf)

Speaker:

H.E. Ambassador Lukman Faily - Ambassador of Iraq to the United States; former Ambassador of Iraq to Japan.

9:15 - 9:30 am: KEYNOTE ADDRESS
AUDIO (.mp3)
TRANSCRIPT

Speaker:

H.E. Ambassador Dr. Mohammed Alhussaini Alsharif - Chief Representative of the League of Arab States to the United States; former Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Canada and Turkey; former Head of the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Houston.

9:30 - 11:00 am: THE PALESTINIAN FUTURE
VIDEO
AUDIO (.mp3)
TRANSCRIPT

Chair:

Dr. Thomas Mattair - Executive Director, Middle East Policy Council; former Research Scholar, Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research; author, The Three Occupied UAE Islands: The Tunbs and Abu Musa and Global Security Watch — Iran: A Reference Handbook.

Speakers:

H.E. Ambassador Maen Areikat - Chief Representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to the United States; former Deputy Head and Coordinator-General of the Negotiations Affairs Department of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Mr. Bill Corcoran - President and CEO of ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid); former Vice President, Child Fund International.

Mr. Chris McGrath - Senior Liaison Officer and Acting Head of the Washington Representative Office, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA); former Communications Strategist for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Ms. Leila Hilal – Director, Middle East Task Force, New America Foundation; former Senior Policy Adviser to the Commissioner-General of UNRWA.

11:00 am - 12:30 pm: GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS: SYRIA, LEBANON, IRAQ, & IRAN
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Chair:

Dr. John Iskander - Chair, Near East and North Africa Area Studies, Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State.

Speakers:

Dr. Trita Parsi - Founder and President, National Iranian American Council; author A Single Roll of the Dice - Obama's Diplomacy with Iran and Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States.

Dr. Judith Yaphe - Distinguished Research Fellow for the Middle East, Institute for National Strategic Studies; Adjunct Professor in the Elliott School, George Washington University; former senior analyst in the office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis, Directorate of Intelligence, CIA.

Dr. Bassam Haddad - Director, Middle East Studies Program and Assistant Professor, Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University; Co-Founder/Editor, Jadaliyya Ezine; Visiting Professor, Georgetown University; author, Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience.

Dr. David Lesch - Professor of Middle East History, Trinity University; author, The Fall of the House of Assad, The Arab – Israeli Conflict: A History, and The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Asad and Modern Syria.

Dr. Michael C. Hudson - Director, Middle East Institute and Professor of Political Science at National University of Singapore; former Director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Professor of International Relations, and Seif Ghobash Professor of Arab Studies, Georgetown University.

1:00 - 2:30 pm: LUNCHEON & KEYNOTE ADDRESS
VIDEO - HRH Prince Abdulmajeed
VIDEO - HRH Prince Abdulaziz & Ambassador Smith
AUDIO - HRH Prince Abdulmajeed (.mp3)
AUDIO - HRH Prince Abdulaziz & Ambassador Smith (.mp3)
TRANSCRIPT - HRH Prince Abdulaziz & Ambassador Smith

Remarks on Model Arab League:

HRH Prince Abdulmajeed bin Abdulilah bin Abdulaziz Al Sa'ud – Student, Northeastern University.

Introduction of Speaker:

HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Sa'ud – Member, International Advisory Committee, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; Honorary President, Website Services and Internet Technology of the Gulf Cooperation Council; former Chairman, Arab Open University Forum.

Speaker:

Ambassador James Smith - Senior Counselor, The Cohen Group; former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

2:30 - 4:00 pm: U.S.-ARAB BUSINESS, FINANCE, AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
VIDEO
AUDIO (.mp3)
TRANSCRIPT

Chair:

Ambassador Ford Fraker - former Senior Adviser and Chairman for the Middle East and North Africa Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P.; former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Speakers:

Ambassador Patrick Theros - Executive Director, U.S.-Qatar Business Council; former U.S. Ambassador to Qatar.

Mr. Ken Close - Founder and CEO, Quincy International; former Senior Policy Advisor to HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal.

Ms. Nahlah Al-Jubeir - Director, Center for Career Development, Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission; former Deputy Director for Financial and Administrative Affairs, Saudi Health Mission in Washington, DC.

Mr. Nathan Regan – Country Manager for the United States, Bahrain Economic Development Board, Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Commentator:

Ambassador Dr. Rene Leon - Economic Growth Consultant, Creative Associates International; former Ambassador of El Salvador to the U.S.

4:00 - 5:30 pm: GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS: EGYPT & ARAB NORTH AFRICA
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AUDIO (.mp3)
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Chair:

Ms. Elizabeth Wossen - Principal and Lead Consultant, Energy Links Group LLC; former Coordinator, Congressional and Government Relations, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation; Member, Board of Directors, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.

Speakers:

Dr. Paul Sullivan - Professor of Economics, Eisenhower School, National Defense University; Adjunct Professor, Security Studies, Georgetown University; Columnist, Turkiye Gazetesi, Istanbul, Turkey.

Mr. Karim Haggag - Visiting Professor, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University; former Director, Egyptian Press and Information Office in Washington, DC.

Ms. Alexis Arieff - Analyst on Africa and the Maghreb, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.

Commentators:

H.E. Ambassador Mohamed M. Tawfik - Ambassador of Egypt to the United States.

Dr. Nejib Ayachi - Founder and President, Maghreb Center.

5:30 - 6:30 pm: ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS: VIEWS FROM THE MEDIA
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Chair:

Dr. Andrew Parasiliti - Editor & CEO, Al-Monitor; former Executive Director, International Institute for Strategic Studies-US and Corresponding Director, IISS-Middle East; former Foreign Policy Advisor to U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel.

Speakers:

Commodore (Ret.) Abdulateef Al-Mulhim – Columnist, Arab News and Al Yaum; Retired Commodore, Royal Saudi Navy.

Mr. Steven Clemons – Editor-at-Large, The Atlantic; Founder, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation; Publisher, The Washington Note.

22nd Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference