17th Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference
October 30 - 31, 2008
Transitioning the White House:
Challenges and Opportunities for Arab-U.S. Relations
Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, D.C.
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COMPLETE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE |
Thursday, October 30
8:50-9:00 a.m.: 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, and Petroleum; The Middle East: Politics, Petroleum, and Development; 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.
9:00-9:30 a.m.: "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].
9:3O-10:30 a.m.: "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.
10:30 - 11:00 a.m. "ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS IN TRANSITION: VIEWS FROM RIYADH AND WASHINGTON"
H.E. Adel A. Al-Jubeir - Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States and Foreign Policy Adviser to HRH 'Abdallah bin 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Sa'ud, Custodian of the Two Holy Places and King of Saudi Arabia
The Honorable Ford Fraker - United States Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: "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. Former 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.
12:00-12:30: NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
Because of the richness of our program, the large number of conference registrants, and the remarkable diversity of backgrounds and interests represented among the participants, this time is set aside for networking and personal conversations.
The staff of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center will be resetting tables for our luncheon during this time. Please do not leave personal belongings or conference materials on the tables.
12:30-2:00: LUNCHEON AND KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Sponsored by the U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
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 from 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.
Commentators:
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 - 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.
2:00-3:30: "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 from 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 from 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.
3:30 -5:15: "ENERGY"
Chair:
The Honorable 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, the Ras Tanura Integrated Project (RTIP), involving an investment of more than $25 billion, which will be the largest petrochemical complex ever undertaken and will require building over thirty process plants along with required utilities and infrastructure.
Mr. Ryan M. Lance - President, Exploration and Production - Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, for ConocoPhillips; serves on the boards of both the American Petroleum Institute and the Independent Petroleum Association of America; advisory board member, Montana Tech; 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.
5:15 - 6:30 p.m. RECEPTION: THE ATRIUM HALL, RONALD REAGAN BUILDING
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31
9:00-9:30 a.m.: 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
9:30-10:45 a.m.: "DEFENSE COOPERATION"
Chair:
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.
Speakers:
Dr. Anthony H. Cordesman - Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Adjunct Professor in National Security Affairs, Georgetown University; former senior adviser and consultant to the U.S. Departments of Defense, Energy, State; former National Security Adviser for U.S. Senator and Republican Party Presidential Nominee John McCain; Senior Adviser and Consultant to ABC Television; and the author of numerous books, monographs, and articles on Iran and Iraq, the Arab-Israeli Military Balance, and U.S. national security, defense, and related interests in the Arab countries, the Middle East, and the Islamic world.
Mr. Christopher Blanchard - Middle East Policy Analyst, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service, United States Congress. Mr. Blanchard has authored or co-authored 13 CRS reports for the Congress, including products on the Gulf Security Dialogue and related U.S. arms sales, U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and regional perspectives on the Iraq conflict.
Mr. Jeffrey C. McCray - Vice President, International Marketing, BAE SYSTEMS. BAE Systems is a major defense contractor, representing the merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems, engaged in the development, delivery, and support of advanced defense and aerospace systems. Mr. McCray has 20 years of experience in the defense field working with both US and UK companies. He is responsible for BAE Systems, Inc. marketing activities in Central Europe and the Middle East. For much of this time he has focused on the Middle East, including a three year tour based in Abu Dhabi.
The Honorable Barbara Bodine - Director of the "Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative" and Diplomat-in-Residence at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Ambassador Bodine's over 30 years in the US Foreign Service were spent primarily on Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf issues, specifically US bilateral and regional policy, strategic security issues, counterterrorism, and governance and reform. In addition to her service as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen, Ms. Bodine also served in Baghdad as Deputy Principal Officer during the Iran-Iraq War, Kuwait as Deputy Chief of Mission during the Iraqi invasion and occupation of 1990-1991, and again, seconded to the Department of Defense, in Iraq in 2003 as the senior State Department official and the first coalition coordinator for reconstruction in Baghdad and the Central governorates.
11:00-12:30: "DEVELOPMENTAL AND EDUCATIONAL DYNAMICS"
Chair:
H.E. Marwan Muasher - Senior Vice-President of External Affairs, The World Bank; former Foreign Minister of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; former Ambassador of Jordan to the United States; author of The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation.
Speakers:
Educating Each Other (I): "Arabia's Challenges and Opportunities"
HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal - Chairman, King Faisal Foundation, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; former Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the Court of St. James and the United States of America; former Director General, Intelligence Directorate General, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Educating Each Other (II): "The Human Rights Agenda"
H.E. Houda Ezra Nonoo - Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States. In 2006, Ambassador Nonoo was appointed by His Majesty the King, Shaikh Hamad Bin Salman Al Khalifa to the Shura Council; serving on the Committee for Finance and Economic Affairs.
Educating Each Other (III): "Preparing a New Generation of Leaders"
Mr. David D. Arnold - President, American University in Cairo; former Vice President, Institute of International Education (IIE); former Ford Foundation Representative in India.
Commentator:
Ms. Muna Abu Sulayman - Co-Host Kalam Nawaem ("Softly Speaking"), MBC-TV; Managing Director, HRH Prince Awaleed Bin Talal Kingdom Foundation
12:30-1:30: LUNCHEON
Speaker:
The Honorable Chas. W. Freeman, Jr. - President, Middle East Policy Council; former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (1993-94), earning the highest public service awards of the Department of Defense for his roles in designing a NATO-centered post-Cold War European 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) and 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.
Remarks by:
H.E. Ali Suleiman Aujali - Chargé d'Affaires, People's Bureau of the Great Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; former Chargé d'Affaires Libyan People's Bureau in Ottawa, Canada; former Libyan ambassador to Malaysia, Argentina, and Brazil.
"An Update on Libyan-U.S. Relations - The Process of Renewal"
1:30-3:00 p.m. "U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2008: VIEWS FROM THE ARAB WORLD"
Chair:
Dr. Abderrahim Foukara - Washington Bureau Chief, Al-Jazeerah International and former longtime BBC Correspondent
Speakers:
Mr. Hisham Melhem - Washington-based correspondent for Annahar, the leading Lebanese daily, Al-Qabas, the Kuwaiti daily, and Radio Monte Carlo in France. He is currently the host of "Across the Ocean", a weekly talk show for Al-Arabiya.
Ms. Dalia Mogahed - Senior Analyst and Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a nonpartisan research center dedicated to providing data-driven analysis on the views of Muslim populations around the world. With John L. Esposito, Ph.D., she is coauthor of the book Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think.
Mr. Mohamed Elmenshawy - Editor-in-Chief of Taqrir Washington. Before joining Taqrir Washington, Elmenshawy worked as the managing editor for Global Issues, an Arabic-language bimonthly publication. He also served as a Washington correspondent for the daily pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Alawsat where he covered the White House, the State Department, and Congress.
3:00-3:30 p.m. "ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS: The Way Forward - Views From the Arab World"
H.E. Dr. Hussein Hassouna - Ambassador of the League of Arab States to the United States of America; former Assistant Foreign Minister of Egypt; former Ambassador of Egypt to Morocco and Yugoslavia; Member, United Nations International Law Commission.
3:30 p.m.: CONCLUDING REMARKS AND ADJOURNMENT
Dr. John Duke Anthony - President and CEO, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations
Since their inception in 1991, these annual one and a half-day Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conferences have convened distinguished American and Arab public and private sector leaders tasked with formulating and implementing an array of key policy objectives in the Arab and Islamic world. The Conferences have regularly received extensive media coverage. C-SPAN, America's premier satellite television network for educational and other national policy-related matters, provided live coverage of the entire 2006 Conference, enabling the proceedings to be viewed and analyzed by millions of Americans. Over 50 broadcast and print media representatives attended and reported on last year's Conference.
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ABOUT THE NATIONAL COUNCIL |
Founded in 1983, the National Council is an educational, non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to improving American knowledge and understanding of the Arab world. The Council's vision is a relationship between the United States and its Arab friends that rests on a solid, enduring foundation. Such a foundation would embody strong strategic, economic, political, commercial, and defense cooperation in addition to heightened contacts and exchanges of American and Arab present as well as emerging leaders. The Council's mission is educational. It seeks to enhance American awareness and appreciation of the multi-faceted and innumerable benefits the United States has long derived from its relations with the Arab countries, the Middle East, and the Islamic world. It endeavors to do this through leadership development, people-to-people programs, academic seminars, the Council's Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference, specialized publications, a free electronic newsletter, and the participation of American students and faculty in Arab world study abroad and Arabic language learning experiences. In pursuit of its mission, the Council serves as a U.S.-Arab relations programmatic, informational, and human resources clearinghouse. In so doing, it provides cutting edge information, insight, and analyses to national, state, and local grassroots organizations, media, public policy research institutes, and select community civic, religious, business, and professional associations.
The National Council has been granted public charity status in accordance with Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. All contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by U.S. law.
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