Arab Strategy Forum

The Arab Strategy Forum is an annual conference, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Forum aims to be a platform for public and private sector leaders to develop future strategies, particularly with a focus on the coming year.

Launch

Launched in 2004, originally as a biennial three-day event[1] titled the Dubai Strategy Forum, the Forum was conceived to promote debate on policy in the Arab world.[2] It was renamed the Arab Strategy Forum in 2006. The keynote address at the inaugural forum was given by former US President Bill Clinton.[3] It was relaunched in 2009 under the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation.[4]

Currently managed by The Executive Office of the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,[5] the event sets out to enable leaders to make strategically informed decisions, navigate risks and exploit opportunities. A one-day event, its theme is typically set by examining predictions for the year ahead both in the Arab and wider world.[6]

Content

The Forum has frequently provided headline-grabbing insights. In 2015 it published a report costing the Arab Spring at $833.7 billion (attributing this to losses in GDP, drops in tourism; stock and financial market losses and drops in Foreign Direct Investment).[7] In 2016, addressing the forum, Leon Panetta, former director of the CIA and former US Secretary of Defence, together with former British Prime Minister David Cameron, jointly called for a regional alliance against terrorism. Panetta asserted such a coalition “could be a powerful signal to Iran that it can’t go into countries as it did in Yemen and Syria.”[8]

The forum has often hosted contradictory views. In 2015 former British Foreign Secretary William Hague pointed to the growing threat of Daesh,[9] while in 2014 Francis Fukuyama claimed the threat posed by the group had been overblown by media and the US.[10] In 2018 both former French President Francois Hollande and former US Defense Secretary Robert Gates used the Forum as a platform to roundly condemn the US decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem.[11]

The Forum also produces a number of reports annually.[12]

References
  1. Krane, Jim (2009-12-01). Dubai: The Story of the World's Fastest City. Atlantic Books. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-84887-394-0.
  2. "Arab Strategy Forum Promotes Debate on Policy in Arab World". Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  3. "Arab Strategy Forum to Focus on Future Challenges". Arab News. 2004-12-12. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  4. "Arab Strategy Forum relaunched". www.tradearabia.com. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  5. "Arab Strategy Forum – Pixel House". pixelhouse.ae. Archived from the original on 2018-11-20. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  6. "Arab Strategy Forum". arabstrategyforum.org (in Arabic). Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  7. "Cost of Arab Spring put at $833.7b". Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  8. "Terrorism not yet defeated, Arab Strategy Forum highlights". Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  9. "UK's William Hague warns of growing Daesh threat". Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  10. "Daesh threat overblown by media, US: Francis Fukuyama". Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  11. Zakaria, Sherouk. "Hollande, Gates condemn Jerusalem announcement". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  12. "Arab Strategy Forum". arabstrategyforum.org (in Arabic). Retrieved 2018-11-20.
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