US-Islamic World Forum opens today

2/18/2006 (The Peninsula-Qatar)

DOHA: The annual US- Islamic World Forum, which opens at the Ritz-Carton this evening would take stock of the US-Islamic world relations over the five years since the 9/11 attacks and look forward to visions for the next five years.

H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani, First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister, will speak at the opening session of the conference at 6.30pm.

The event this year is being held under the theme "Leader effect change." The three-day conference will bring together political, business, media, civil society, science, arts and culture leaders from the US and the Islamic World. It is hosted jointly by the Saban Centre at the Brookings Institution in the US and Qatar's Foreign Ministry.

The Forum seeks to serve as a convening body for American and Muslim world leaders and a catalyst for promoting more positive relations between the US and Muslim states and communities, said H E Mohammed Abdullah Al Rumaihi, Assistant to the Foreign Minister for Follow Up Affairs and Dr Peter W Singer, director of the Brookings Project on US Policy Towards the Islamic World, at a press conference yesterday.

One of the greatest challenges in global politics today is the dangerous tension that has built up between the United States and the world's Muslim states and communities. This deepening divide is a critical impediment to cooperation on a breadth of vital issues, ranging from dealing with terrorism and radicalism to supporting human development and freedom, said Peter Singer.

The Forum will bring together over 170 top American and Muslim world leaders, whose backgrounds range from government ministers and CEOs to journalists and scientists to religious leaders and rock music stars.

38 countries will be represented at the forum. Universities represented at the forum range from Harvard and Oxford to Dar Al Hekma College, the first private college for women in Saudi Arabia and the College of Jurisprudence in Najaf, Iraq.

The participating business organisations will range from Cisco to the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, while the media range from the New York Times and Al Ahram to Al Jazeera, Fox, and MTV. Issues to be covered include security concerns and peace processes, governance and reform, and youth and development.

The opening session will feature a panel of speakers including Karen Hughes, Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, the US, Syed Hamid Albar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia, and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conferences.