Dr. Christian Koch participated in a conference call organized by the Bertelsmann Foundation in Washington on the topic of “Middle East Policy and Transatlantic Cooperation in a New American Presidency.” The call featured short presentations by Dr. Koch, Amb. James Jeffrey of the Washington Institute and Christian-Peter Hanelt of the Bertelsmann Foundation in Germany. In total, more than 130 people listened to the call which included a question and answer session with listeners. A complete audio recording will soon be available.
Dr. Christian Koch participated in the discussion of the Tawila Middle East Group held in Berlin, Germany. The topic of discussion focused on the status of the diplomatic negotiation over Syria with an assessment about the overall situation presented by Carsten Wieland of the German Foreign Office.
Dr. Christian Koch, Director of the GRC Foundation, held a meeting with H.E. Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi, Ambassador of the State of Kuwait to the Kingdom of Belgium and the European Union, in Brussels. The two discussed joint cooperation when it comes to GCC-EU issues and how to promote activities that will strengthen the cooperation between the two sides.
Dr. Christian Koch, Director of the Gulf Research Center Foundation, attended the Qatar National Day Celebration at a reception held in Berlin, Germany. Qatari Ambassador to Germany H.E. Abdulrahman Al-Khulaifi spoke at the event highlighting the importance of Qatar-German relations.
Dr. Abdulaziz Sager, Chairman of the GRC and Dr. Christian Koch, Director of the GRC Foundation both attended the third annual Gulf Studies Forum held by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha, Qatar. Dr. Sager spoke on the panel of “Regional Security: Questions and Challenges” with a paper on “Gulf-Turkey Relations” while Dr. Koch spoke on the panel of “GCC Relations with the Great Powers” with a paper entitled “Gulf-Europe Relations: Changing Dynamics”. The conference brought together more than 100 participants from throughout the Gulf region, the Middle East and beyond.
As the only think tank from the Gulf region, the Gulf Research Center took part on the T20 Kick-off conference on “Cohesion in Diversity: Accompanying the German G20 Presidency” organized by the German Development Institute and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. The conference was held in Berlin, Germany. The T20 framework is the civil society component that will accompany the German presidency of the G20 throughout 2017 and it brings together think tanks from all G20 member countries. Through its participation, the GRC ensures that Gulf regional perspectives are part of the overall debate given Saudi Arabia’s membership in the G20. The opening keynote was delivered by Lars-Hendrik Röller, the Chief Economic Advisor to the German Chancellor, who outlined the German goal and objectives for the coming year.
