GRC Chairman Dr. Abdulaziz Sager was invited by the Arab League Delegation in Paris to participate in a discussion at the Arab World Institute (Institut du Monde Arabe) on “the future of the Arab world in light of remaining challenges.” The discussion took place as part of a celebratory event marking the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the Arab League. Dr. Sager specifically addressed the challenges of an “Arab identity,” including youth and radicalization as a result of globalization.
GRC Chairman Dr. Abdulaziz Sager participated in the annual symposium of the University of Leicester’s Kurdistan International Studies Unit, which brought together scholars to share and highlight research on Kurdish and Middle Eastern affairs. This year’s main topic was “the Role of the Kurds in the Middle East and beyond: Regional and International Interactions,” and session topics included “The Middle East and Geopolitics; Political Economy, Sustainability and Development; Archaeology, History, Cultural & Language Heritage; Migration, Diaspora, Social Movements; and Conflict Resolution.
Dr. Christian Koch, Director of the Gulf Research Center Foundation, gave a full day of presentations to Senior Course members at the NATO Defence College in Rome, Italy on the subject of “Regional Organizations and their impact on Global Security: The Case of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).” The Senior Course is comprise of more than 50 military and government officials from NATO member countries. The focus of the presentations was on the regional integration process in the Gulf region and examined the foreign, defence and security policies of the GCC as well as the key security-related issues affecting the both the organization and the broader region.
GRC Chairman Dr. Abdulaziz Sager participated in a Chatham House conference along with 200 others on 15 March 2017 on “Syria: International Policy Options after Six Years of Failure,” which marked six years since the start of the conflict in Syria. Dr. Sager spoke in the conference’s second panel on the “Role of Regional Actors,” where he looked at the policies of regional actors, specifically the GCC countries, Iran, Russia and Turkey, towards the Syria conflict and assessed how developments in Syria and the international environment have affected their decision making.
On March 14th, 2017, GRC Chairman Dr. Abdulaziz Sager participated in a workshop hosted by the Global Future College, entitled “Opportunities, political and security challenges facing Saudi Arabia in the near to mid future: a troubled region and a changing world.” The workshop brought together participants from the US, UK, Saudi Arabia and France on an invitation-only basis, and the discussions throughout the workshop were on an informal basis.
Dr. Christian Koch, Director of the GRC Foundation in Geneva, participated in the expert roundtable on “The Kingdom under Pressure: Saudi Arabia’s External and Internal Challenges,” organized by the German Council on Foreign Relations (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik – DGAP) together with the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation and held in Berlin, Germany. The event brought together about 20 experts to discuss the current domestic and foreign policy challenges faced by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
