Participations
Dr.Abdulaziz Sager participated and presented paper on Panel 3: The Middle East and Gulf Perspective at the workshop titled Turkey’s New Global Activism ,12-14 April 2012 in Istanbul organised by the Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in collaboration with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Turkey.
Dr. Abdulaziz Sager participated at the one day workshop in Istanbul on the 10th of April entitled “Iraq’s Emerging Foreign Policy in Regional and International Context.” organised by the Carnegie Middle East Center in collaboration with the Turkish Think Tank, TESEV.
Dr. Abdulaziz Sager participated at the Conference titled “The Arab Spring One Year After: Challenges, Prospects and Strategies for Change”, organized by the European Policy Center at Brussels on the 29th-30th of March 2012 and chaired the session on ” Economic Performance: Managing the Transformation to Open and Fair Market Economies”.
Dr. Abdulaziz Sager, Chairman of the GRC, spoke at the UNCTAD XIII Policy Dialogue “Redefining the Role of the Government in Tomorrow\’s International Trade” held on March 26, 2012 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Dr. Sager focused specifically on the challenge for export diversification from a Gulf perspective arguing that the GCC states benefit from globalization while the issue of employment generation through the creation of small and medium businesses remains a continued challenge.
GRC Chairman Dr. Abdulaziz Sager participated in a panel discussion at the JEF in Jeddah on Sunday 4 March 2012. Dr. Sager tried to analyze the necessary steps to achieve further integration between GCC countries and play a more effective role within the political and economical international arena. he said that the success of the Gulf Cooperation Council experience is beyond doubt, however there is still room for improvement in many areas. He elaborated while answering a question from the audience that four factors also contributed to the creation of the GCC federation: The delay in implementing the previously agreed GCC rules, the economic differences among the GCC countries, and the strong ties linking families ruling these states. The federation, he said, is still facing challenges that will be discussed and modified. Answering a question whether China, the world’s second biggest economy, is looking to become a world political power, he said: “China has domestic issues that it needs to tackle. It’s still not ready to take this step.
Dr. Abdulaziz Sager attended an Informal Round table on the 24th February organized by the Geneva Center for Security Policy.
GRC at the Brookings Doha Energy Forum 2012 in Doha, Qatar Dr. Abdulaziz Sager, Chairman of GRC, attended the Brookings Doha Energy Forum 2012 in Doha, Qatar from February 20-21, 2012. The theme of the conference was “At the Energy Fault-Line: What Shifts in Global Economics and Local Politics mean for Middle East Suppliers and their customers.”
Gulf Research Center Participated in two day symposium held in Riyadh entitled: The New Changes in the Arab world Dr. Abdulaziz Sager participated in the two day symposium being organized jointly by the Riyadh-based King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) and Carnegie Endowment For International Peace held in Riyadh on 9-10th January titled The New Changes in the Arab world and chaired a session titled The U.S and the New Changes in the Arab World with Ms. Jessica Mathews,President and Dr. Thomas Carothers ,Vice President and Dr.Marwan Muasher, Vice President for Studies and Director (Middle East Program) from Carnegie.
GRC Chairman Dr. Abdulaziz Sager Attended conference in Doha on 22nd-23rd November titled: “GCC at 30 : Past Achievements and Future Prospects” and shared a panel as a speaker titled: “GCC security Challenges”.
GRC Chairman Dr. Abdulaziz Sager, Dr. Christian Koch, Director of the GRC Foundation, and Dr. Abdullah Baabood, Director of the Gulf Research Center Cambridge held a meeting with Patricia Llombart-Cussac, Head of the Division for the Arabian Peninsula, Iran and Iraq at the European External Action Service (EEAS) and Guiseppi Busini, Desk Officer for the GCC and Gulf Countries at the EEAS in Brussels on Tuesday. They discussed many of the current issues in the relations between the GCC and the EU including the situation in Yemen. They also focused on the Joint Action Programme and way that aspects of the program can be implemented with the assistance of the GRC. A further point was the holding of a GCC-EU Economic Conference to be held next year in Brussels in correspondence with the annual Joint Ministerial Meeting of the EU and the GCC.
