“FOUNDATIONS FOR CHANGE IN THE ARAB WORLD: A WOMAN’S PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVE”
Ms. Muna Abu Sulayman − Co-Host Kalam Nawaem (“Softly Speaking”), Middle East Broadcasting Corporation [MBC-TV]; Managing Director, HRH Prince Awaleed Bin Talal Kingdom Foundation
“ENERGY”
Chair: Ms. Karen Harbert − Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Institute for 21st Century Energy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; former Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy.
Speakers: Ms. Nabilah Al-Tunisi − Director of the Saudi Aramco-Dow Chemical joint venture project to build one of the largest hydrocarbon and chemical complexes in the world near the R’as Tanura Refinery in Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Ryan M. Lance − President, Exploration and Production – Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, for ConocoPhillips. He serves on the boards of both the American Petroleum Institute and the Independent Petroleum Association of America, is an advisory board member of Montana Tech and a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Mr. James Burkhard − Managing Director, Cambridge Energy Research Associates [CERA], Global Oil Group; leads the team of CERA experts focused on exploration and production strategy, upstream technology, and short- and long-term analysis of crude oil and refined products markets; coauthor of CERA’s World Oil Watch, which analyzes short- to medium-term developments in the oil market.
Mr. Jay R. Pryor – Vice-President for Corporate Business Development, Chevron Corporation. Mr. Pryor is responsible for identifying and developing new, large-scale business opportunities throughout the world. He assumed his current position in 2006 but began his career with Chevron in 1979. Since that time he has held a succession of management positions with increasing responsibilities in Asia, the United States, Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Ms. Karen Harbert AUDIO (.mp3)
Ms. Nabilah Al-Tunisi AUDIO (.mp3)
Mr. Ryan M. Lance AUDIO (.mp3)
“GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (III): IRAN AND IRAQ“
Chair: Dr. John Duke Anthony − President and CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.
Speakers: Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft (USAF, Ret.) − President and Founder of The Scowcroft Group; former National Security Advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush; concluded a twenty-nine year military career that began with graduation West Point at the rank of Air Force Lieutenant General serving as Deputy National Security Advisor; former Director, Kissinger Associates.
General Joseph P. Hoar (USMC, Ret.) − former Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command, with responsibility for planning and operations for twenty-seven (27) countries in the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and the Horn of Africa. Following his retirement the military, General Hoar formed the consulting firm of J.P. Hoar & Associates, which is engaged in business development in the Middle East and Africa.
Mr. Wayne White − Adjunct Scholar, Middle East Institute and Policy Expert, Middle East Policy Council; former Deputy Director of the Near East and South Asia Office, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, U.S. Department of State.
Dr. Kenneth Katzman − Senior Middle East Affairs Specialist, Congressional Research Service, United States Congress. Author of numerous and regularly updated briefing reports for Members of the United States Congress on Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the GCC region.
Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft (USAF, Ret.) AUDIO (.mp3)
General Joseph P. Hoar (USMC, Ret.) AUDIO (.mp3)
LUNCHEON KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Welcome and Brief Remarks: The Honorable Dina Habib Powell − Global Head of Corporate Engagement, Goldman Sachs; former Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs and Deputy Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State; former Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, White House.
Speaker: H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi − Minister for Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates
H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi headed the UAE’s Ministry of Economy during one of the country’s most economically prosperous periods. Additionally, Sheikha Lubna’s appointment in November 2004 to manage what was then the UAE’s newly merged economy and planning portfolio was a historic event for the UAE as she became the first woman ever in the country to assume a cabinet position. Sheikha Lubna was also appointed Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the UAE’s Securities & Commodities Authority, serving 2004 until 2008. Following her tenure as Minister of Economy, Sheikha Lubna was appointed in February 2008 to another highly sensitive post as Minister for Foreign Trade.
Commentator: The Honorable David Bohigian − Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Market Access and Compliance, International Trade Administration, United States Department of Commerce; Department of Commerce representative on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
The Honorable Dina Habib Powell AUDIO (.mp3)
H.E. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi AUDIO (.mp3)
“GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (II): ISRAEL AND PALESTINE”
Chair: Dr. Peter Gubser − Immediate Past President, American Near East Refugee Aid, Inc [ANERA]; Member, Board of Directors, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.
Speakers: Dr. Nadia Hijab − Senior Fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Palestine Studies. Author, Womanpower: The Arab Debate on Women at Work and co-author Citizens Apart: A Portrait of Palestinians in Israel. She was Editor-in-Chief of the London-based Middle East magazine before moving to New York in 1989 to join the United Nations. Since 1999, she has worked as an independent consultant for international organizations on human rights, human development, gender, and the media.
Mr. Daniel Levy − Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Initiative at the New America Foundation and a Senior Fellow and Director of the Prospects for Peace Initiative at The Century Foundation.
Dr. Naseer Aruri − Chancellor Professor (Emeritus) of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth; author of numerous books and articles on the Arab-Israeli conflict; President of the Board, Trans-Arab Research Institute; Member, Executive Committee, Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine.
“ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS IN TRANSITION”
The Honorable Ford Fraker
The Honorable Walter Cutler
The Honorable Wyche Fowler
The Honorable Robert Jordan
The Honorable Ford Fraker AUDIO (.mp3)
The Honorable Walter Cutler AUDIO (.mp3)
“GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (I): LEBANON AND SYRIA”
Chair: The Honorable Edward W. Gnehm, Jr. – Kuwait Professor of Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Affairs, Elliot School of International Affairs, The George Washington University; former United States Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; former United States Ambassador to Australia; former director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Personnel for the Department of State; 36-year career in the United States Foreign Service.
Speakers: H.E. Dr. Imad Moustapha − Ambassador of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United States
Dr. Bassam Haddad −Director, Middle East Studies Program and Assistant Professor, Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia
Dr. Daoud Khairallah, Esq. −Adjunct Professor of International Law at Georgetown University Law Center and the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Edward W. Gnehm, Jr. AUDIO (.mp3)
H.E. Dr. Imad Moustapha AUDIO (.mp3)
Dr. Bassam Haddad AUDIO (.mp3)
“REVISITING ARAB-U.S. STRATEGIC RELATIONS: AN OVERVIEW AND PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE”
General Wesley Clark (USA, Ret.) − Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Europe; author, A Time to Lead, Waging Modern War, and Winning Modern Wars; candidate for the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States [2004].
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Dr. John Duke Anthony − President and CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; Adjunct Professor, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Graduate School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University and Adjunct Professor, Defense Institute for Security Assistance Management; author of Arab States of the Lower Gulf: People, Politics, Petroleum; The Middle East: Oil, Politics, and Development; Historical and Cultural Dictionary of the Sultanate of Oman and the Emirates of Eastern Arabia, and The United Arab Emirates: Dynamics of State Formation, in addition to numerous articles and essays on the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf States, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the six GCC countries.
Rear Admiral Harold J. Bernsen, USN, Ret.) − Chairman, Board of Directors, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations; President, Board of Trustees of Physicians for Peace; Director, American-Bahraini Friendship Society; former Commander, U.S. Middle East Force; and Director Emeritus, National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce.
Council Chronicle – Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring-Summer 2008) (.pdf file)
Council Chronicle – Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter 2008) (.pdf file)
John Duke Anthony – War with Iran: Regional Reactions and Requirements (.pdf file)
John Duke Anthony – War with Iran: Regional Reactions and Requirements (.pdf file)
John Duke Anthony – Lucius Durham Battle (1918-2008): In Memoriam and Appreciation
John Duke Anthony – Gulf-U.S. Relations: Going Where? (.pdf)
Dr. Abderrahim Foukara – Keynote Address to the Opening Session of the 2008 National University Model Arab League
John Duke Anthony – Economic Development in the GCC Region in Focus (.pdf file)
In 2007 Dr. Anthony was contracted by Britannica Book of the Year (BBOY), publication of Encyclopaedia Britannica, to write an original essay on “Boom in the Gulf.” The essay focused on the extraordinary construction boom underway in the six GCC countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The essay, which can be accessed through the above link, was accepted and appears in the 2008 edition of the BBOY. The National Council is pleased that Encyclopaedia Britannica has granted permission for the Council to reprint the essay in full.
Pat Mancino, NCUSAR Vice President & Director of Development – Saudi Conference on IT and Security
John Duke Anthony – An American in Qatar: Observations on the 2007 GCC Summit (via SUSRIS)
Council Chronicle – Vol. 1, No. 2 (November 2007) (.pdf file)
VIDEO