Gergawi names speakers Dubai Strategy Forum 2002

His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence, will lead forty senior government, business and academic personalities set to take the stage at this year’s Dubai Strategy Forum, October 28-30 2002. The support line up will include ministers, media chiefs and Nobel Prize contenders, according to the Forum’s chairman, Mohammed Al Gergawi.

Gergawi made the announcement to a diplomatic audience comprising key representatives to the United Arab Emirates from more than 40 embassies including the Ambassadors and Counsel Generals from the GCC states, India, Pakistan, China, Great Britain, Germany and Canada.

“His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed will give the 30 minute opening presentation sharing his vision for the region under the Forum theme, Creating Networks of Growth,” he said.

He named foreign government presence at the Forum as including Pakistan’s Minister of Finance, Shaukat Aziz; Minister of Foreign Affairs to Sri Lanka, Tyronne Fernando and Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore’s Minister of State for National Development.

From the global media corps. speakers include Hameed Haroon, chief executive and publisher of Pakistan’s leading house and daily news title, Dawn; Robert Friedman, international editor for Fortune magazine; and Douglas Holmes, editor, E-government News. 

“We are launching a process at the Forum this year. This is a process meant to contribute to a momentum for growth for the countries of the region by creating a framework of open and constructive dialogue, of business-oriented interaction relevant for the 31 countries of the region represented,” said Gergawi.

He advised that other featured personalities would include assistant secretary general of the United Nations, Rima Khalaf Hunaidi; lead author of the Arab Human Development Report, Nader Fergany; Hernando de Soto, president and founder of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy - ranked by the Economist as the second most important think tank in the world and Stanford University’s distinguished professor, Paul Romer, considered one of the world’s leading economists and the father of ‘the new growth theory’.

In addition, business gurus, Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Havard Business School; Michael Hay of the London Business School and Mohanbir Sawhney of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management will also take the stage, as well as participating in panel discussions.

The global business sector is also expected to display top level representation with top level attendance confirmed by financial and consulting firms Goldman Sachs, Investcorp, Gulf Investment Corporation, Booz Allen Hamilton and PricewaterhouseCoopers, as well as numerous other diversified companies such as UK’s BP, Hong Kong’s Hang Lung Development Company, Egypt’s ARTOC Group and US based Oracle Corporation. 

Gergawi said: “The Dubai Strategy Forum will discuss the impact on the global economy that this region, representing one third of the world’s people and yet dubbed ‘the third world’ by many economists and media, is set to have.”

The region comprises 31 countries in North and East Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East, including the Gulf States.

“It is our responsibility as leaders, whatever our sphere, to play our part in advancing the economies within which we work and live and the Forum is designed to pull opinion and opportunity under one roof,” he continued.

“We believe it is only through cooperation that each country will be able to leverage in an optimum way its own assets and specific advantages.”

He said the Forum stands as an example of the emirate’s appreciation that this region sits on a portion of the world’s GDP that, at just five per cent, or US$1.5 trillion, is positioned for notable growth. He suggested that the countries involved have a responsibility to enhance the region’s collective influence on the global economy.

“Dubai is just the convener; the Forum is a true regional reality that we want to build into a process of integrating ideas and proposals to make it even more useful and relevant to all concerned. It is a meeting for the region, by the region, and will encourage dialogue, discussion, as well as debate, aimed at creating workable strategies geared to our mutual bottom-line success”

He stressed that knowledge sharing by leaders among leaders is key: “The Dubai Strategy Forum 2002 is the linchpin to stir action. The meeting is structured to encourage complete freedom of speech and opinion among the 40 plus speakers, panelists and expected 1,000 delegates.”

The Forum initiative was kicked off last year during the wave of ongoing pioneering steps taken by Dubai’s forward-thinking Crown Prince. In addition to delivering the opening presentation, His Highness will play a key role at the three day meeting, comprising more than 20 sessions and workshops focusing on Governance, Business & Economy and Innovation & Technology. 

On participation, the meeting has already attracted the attention of leading brands, who have committed their support as Organising Partners, helping to steer the Forum in achieving its goals.

These are: Dubai Media City, the rapidly emerging global media hub; ENOC, a leader in upstream and downstream activities in the oil and gas sector; Emirates, the UAE’s national airline; the GCC’s leading English newspaper, Gulf News; National Bank of Dubai, Dubai’s national bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the international firm of auditors and business advisors.

In addition, activity sponsors include General Motors, Mashreq Bank, Oracle, Jumeirah Beach Residence and Visa.