Venice - October 16-18 2008
Eurogolfe is a network of Gulf and European Academics, Researchers and Expert with the purpose of providing professionals, organizations and corporations with a sound knowledge of current developments in the Gulf region in terms of it social, political and cultural changes; and enhancing relations in the field of education between Europe and GCC countries, with a view to training the leaders of tomorrow.
The Middle East and Mediterranean Chair at Sciences Po Paris, an endowed chair funded by major corporations, aims at bridging the gap between the private and public sectors and academia.
The Giorgio Cini Foundation is a non profit organization internationally renowned both for its research programs in humanities and for the active role traditionally played in encouraging meetings and exchanges involving different nations, parties, cultures. Nowadays, the Foundation is especially concerned with the definition of the ‘new’ European identity.
1. Eurogolfe Forum contact eurogolfe2008@sciences-po.fr The Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at Sciences Po Paris 27, rue Saint Guillaume 75007 Paris France Gilles KEPEL, Professor and Chair, Middle-East and Mediterranean Studies, at Sciences Po Paris Assistant: Charlène Lavoir- 00 33 (0)1 45 49 72 01 E-mail: Charlene.lavoir@sciences-po.fr 2. Partnership / Production contact Havas - Euro RSCG Worldwide Events / Eurogolfe Forum 2, allée de Longchamp 92150 Suresnes France Gérard ASKINAZI, CEO Assistant: Marijo SALLON - 00 33 (0)1 58 47 88 12 E-mail: marijo.sallon@eurorscg.fr
EUROPE, THE GULF AND THE MEDITERRANEAN: DRAWING ON THE LESSONS OF VENICE
There could hardly be a more appropriate setting than Venice and the island of San Giorgio Maggiore for this, the fourth Eurogolfe Forum, entitled ‘Europe, the Gulf and the Mediterranean: Reviving Common Legacies, Mapping Our New Region’. The extraordinary history of the City of the Doges and its relations with the East provides a perfect starting point for our debate on the new region taking shape between Europe, the Mediterranean and the Gulf today. It serves, too, as a reminder of how much will be at stake in the near future, under a European Union presidency which has prioritised the concept of ‘The Union for the Mediterranean’. [...]
This is the challenge that the 2008 Eurogolfe Forum must throw down. Peace and security - in particular in the Middle East and the Gulf - can only be built on trust, and trust must be based on sharing economic prosperity and a politics of civilisation. The object of our first half-day session of debate and exchange, on the morning of 17 October, will be to identify pathways of economic cooperation, to reach a joint assessment of the coming challenges in the field of energy, investment, transport and sustainable development. The second session, on the afternoon of 17 October, will discuss what is at stake in education, information, the media, representation and culture in the broadest sense. Lastly, the morning session on 18 October will centre on the question of stability, looking at how Europe and the Gulf can shoulder a common responsibility for establishing the prerequisite conditions for lasting security in our region.
EUROGOLFE FORUM 2008 « Europe, The Gulf and the Mediterranean: Reviving Common Legacies, Mapping Our New Region », to be held in Venice, Giorgio Cini Foundation, October 16-18, will be the unique Forum during the French Presidency of the European Union when decision makers, business leaders and academics from the Gulf, Europe and the Mediterranean meet to enhance relations and explore areas of cooperation in the fields of economy, culture and education, and political stability.
At a time when oil prices have skyrocketed, when Sovereign Wealth funds have become a major source of world liquidities, soaring inflation is casting a shadow on the very growth of the Gulf and its Labour market. What policies could be implemented by the EU, the GCC and the Mediterranean to develop a shared sustainable growth?
As the Gulf becomes a center and a hub of tomorrow’s world, it is investing heavily in education and in cultural policies – with universities and museums taking shape in an environment where Heritage and Globalization are finding a delicate and sometimes uneasy balance. To what point can we take up together the new civilization challenge and build cultural commonalities in a plural world?
Finally, as the “War on Terror” led to the Iraqi quagmire, with tensions over nuclear issues at their highest on both sides of the Gulf, and while new developments take place in the Middle East on the Arab-Israeli file, the Bush presidency comes to an end: how can Europe contribute in a much more decisive way to the security of our region, together with partners from the Gulf and the Mediterranean?
Such are some of the challenges and the debates that will shape the EUROGOLFE FORUM 2008 in Venice – the city with a unique history of encounters between civilizations around the Mediterranean.
Pr Gilles Kepel Chairman, Eurogolfe
Why the Eurogolfe Forum 2008 will be held in Venice, and co-organized by the Giorgio Cini Foundation.
One of the best-known epithets for Venice is “the Gateway to the East”. This description was certainly true in the past. At the height of the Serenissima’s splendour, trade and exchanges in ideas (as well as goods) between Europe and the East passed through Venice and inevitably also through the Middle East. History has wiped out the economic and commercial supremacy of the Venetian trade routes, but has left intact the lagoon city’s powerful innate vocation as a special place where cultural traditions of East and West, South and North, could peacefully coexist and be mutually enriched.
In almost a thousand years of history the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore (where the Giorgio Cini Foundation is based) was characterised – in addition to its incredible artistic and architectural context – by a twofold vocation. It was both a great centre of spiritual life and a place for meetings and exchanges, a “free zone”, enjoying a kind of extraterritorial status. With a reputation in Italy and the world principally for being a place of excellence for humanistic studies, the Foundation has often played a typically political role. Like the monastery in its day, the Foundation is both a study centre and a place for political meetings. Not surprisingly, in the 1980s San Giorgio Maggiore twice hosted G-7 summits.
Today the Foundation has been relaunched as an institution concerned with the definition of the ‘new’ European identity, and the international relations between Europe and other political and economic macro-regions. On the grounds of its vocation and tradition, the Foundation seemed an ideal place (physically and symbolically) for approaching the delicate issues involved in liaising Europe, the Gulf, and the Mediterranean. The issues brought foreword by the Eurogolfe Forum 2008 will be dealt with by treasuring what we can learn from the history of Venice, its extraordinary political experience, its capacity to be a great “intermediary”, simultaneously at trade, political and cultural levels.
The Giorgio Cini Foundation is a non-profit cultural institution based in Venice, Italy. It was constituted by Count Vittorio Cini, in memory of his son Giorgio, with the aim of restoring the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore (devastated after 100 years of military occupation) and of creating an international cultural centre that would reintegrate the Island into the life of Venice.
«The Giorgio Cini Foundation’s mission is to promote the redevelopment of the monumental complex on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore and encourage the creation and development of educational, social, cultural and artistic institutions in its surrounding territory.»
The creation of the Foundation was one of the most considerable private initiatives of the 20th century. The importance of this undertaking was borne out by the initial investment committed to rehabilitate the Island and by the many events the Foundation has promoted or hosted since. It is further substanstiated by the cultural patrimony conserved on the Island and, since 1984, at the Gallery of Palazzo Cini at San Vio.
Alongside the Foundation's commitment to its own research and the conferences and seminars growing out of this work, the Island welcomes events sponsored by distinguished cultural and scientific organisations. It has even been the site of major international summits (inprimis the G7 in 1980 and 1987).
The role of the Giorgio Cini Foundation is attested by the many highly esteemed intellectuals, artists, politicians and economists who have been involved in its programme, and by the recollections of scholars and guests who have spent time on the Island.
S.M Adeli, Chief Executive Officer, Rieis Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg, Director of Economic Integration Department, CCEAG Khaled Awad, Director of Property Development, MASDAR Dominique Baudis, Chairman, Institut du Monde Arabe Tarak Ben Amar, Member of the Board, Foundation Giorgio Cini, Producer, Quinta Communications Philippe Boisseau, President of Gas & Power business, Total Alain Demarolle, Adviser to the French Government on Sovereign Wealth Funds Kemal Dervis, Administrator, PNUD (to be confirmed) Bernard El-Ghoul, Director, Sciences-Po Menton Abdulaziz Al Fahad, Lawyer KSA (to be confirmed) Turki Al Faisal, Chair of The King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies Joschka Fischer, Former German Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor Dominique Front Réaulx, Curator, Musée du Louvre, in charge of the Louvre Abou Dabi project Simon Henderson, Baker Fellow and Director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program, The Washington Institute Jean-Pierre Jouyet, French Minister of State responsible for European Affairs Riad Kahwaji, Founder & General Manager, INEGMA Haïfa Jamal al Leil, Director, Effat College Tahar Labib, General Manager, Arab Organization for Translation Elena Maestri, Professor, CRISSMA Universita Cattolica del sacro Cuore Di Milano Robert Malley, Program Director for Middle East and North Africa, International Crisis Group Christophe de Margerie, Chief Executive Officer, Total Jamil Mroueh, Director, Daily Star Ghanem Al Najjar, Professor of Political Science, Kuwait University Vincenzo Nesci, Vice-President for the Middle East, Alcatel Tim Niblock, Professor, Exeter University Jean Nouvel, Architect (to be confirmed) Shada Omar, Presenter Journalist, LBC Channel Marc Otte, EU special representative for the Middle East peace process Nigel Parsons, Manager Director, Al Jazeera English Valeria Piacentini, Professor, CRISSMA Universita Cattolica del sacro Cuore Di Milano Walter Posche, Responsible for Research Area Middle East /Gulf, Institute for the Security Studies Romano Prodi, Former President of European commission Abdulrahman Al Rashed, General Manager, Al -Arabiya Television Issad Rebrab, Chairman, Cevital (to be confirmed) Mohammed Al Rukn, Associate Professor of public Law UAE, University Abu Dhabi Abdulaziz Sager, Chairman, Gulf Research Center Ghassam Salamé, Professor Political Science, Sciences-Po Mahmood Sariolghalam, Associate Professor Ph.D. in Political Science & International Relations, Shahis Beheshti University Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Assistant Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (to be confirmed) Bernard Savage, Ambassador Head of Delegation, European Union, Riyadh (KSA) Dominique Sénéquier, Chairman of the Board, AXA Private Equity Frederic Sichler, Chief Executive Officer, Rotana Films General Saber Mohammad Al Suwaidan Member of the Higher Council for Planning and Development, Kuwait (to be confirmed) Hubert Védrine, Former French Minister of Foreign Affairs Lionel Zinsou, Managing Director, PAI Partners