Introduction

Throughout the years of 2015-16 we have seen the number of migrants flooding into Europe gain momentum as the pace and magnitude of the migration has been sharply rising. Although recent movement of refugees both from Syria and elsewhere has gained momentum, when looking for the trigger, it is essential to go back to 2011 when the Arab uprising began in the Middle East. The Syrian regime managed to remain intact until the beginning of March 2011 when civil war eventually broke out as a result of mass protests from the population, which followed the same style as those which had previously taken place in both Tunisia and Egypt. Due to these significant recent events the Arab world can be considered to be currently in a phase of major transitions.

The Arab World has a rich diversity of ethnic and religious communities, which includes a population of over 400 million Arabs. The Arab world's ancient civilization, which goes back over 2000 years has offered significant cultural, scientific, mathematic, scholarly and other contributions to global civilization. The Arab world today is keeping up and in some areas is excelling with development of the digital era and its societies are some of the fastest developing and growing in the world.

The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the Arab World will focus on the opportunities for cultural diplomacy in the Arab World in the framework of the current transitions and challenges. In particular, the symposium will highlight the best practices of certain countries in the Arab World of practicing cultural diplomacy to educate and to strengthen relationships between groups within their countries and to strengthen relationships between their countries and the global community.

Symposium Speakers

Speakers during the symposium will include leading politicians, diplomats, governmental officials, senior academics, journalists, and celebrated artists. These speakers will include a large number of individuals from the ICD Advisory Board. To learn more about the ICD Advisory Board, please click here.

Speakers & Delegates for the Symposium include:

Minister Farida Momand Minister of Higher Education of Afghanistan	President Emil Constantinescu President, Academy for Cultural Diplomacy	H.E. Dr. Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Kawari Minister; Qatar’s candidate for the position of Director General of UNESCO; Adviser at the Amiri Diwan
Stephan Mayer (MdB) Member of the German Parliament	Joachim Pfeiffer (MdB) Member of the German Parliament	Philipp Lengsfeld (MdB) Member of the German Parliament
Amb. Gunter Mulack   Executive Director, German Orient Institute in Berlin	Dirk Niebel Former German Minister of Economic Cooperation & Development	SG Harald Kindermann Secretary General, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
SG Abdelouahid Khouja Secretary General, House of Councillors of Morocco	Grand Mufti Selim Muça Grand Mufti of the Muslim Community of Albania	Speaker Safet Softić Speaker of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia & Herzegovina
Samir Barhoum Chief Editor, the Jordan Times	Faisal J. Abbas Editor-in-Chief of Al Arabiya English	Idriss Benarafa Editor-in-Chief, The Moroccan Times
H. E. Amb. Jauhar Saleem Ambassador of Pakistan to Germany	Amb. Mohamed Kazem Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt for a Culture of Dialogue	Amb. Badr Abdelatty Ambassador of Egypt to Germany
SG Fadi Khalaf Secretary General, Arab Federation of Exchanges	MP Mirsad Isaković Chair of the Gender Equality Committee of Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia & Herzegovina	Rashed Al Baloushi CEO, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange
Hassan Diab Former Minister of Education of Lebanon	Prof. Ulrich Brueckner Academic Director, Academy for Cultural Diplomacy	Yasar Yakis Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey
Mohammed Abubaker Al Ghasani Deputy Chairman of Majlis A'shura Council of Oman	MP Zuraida binti Kamaruddin Member of the Parliament of Malaysia	MP Dhiaa N. Al-Asadi Member of the Parliament of Iraq

Symposium Locations

Based in Berlin, the conference will be hosted at ICD House of Arts & Culture and in a number of important political, historic, and cultural locations across the city.

Symposium Participants »

Participation in the conference is open to governmental & diplomatic officials, academics, artists, journalists, civil society practitioners, private sector representatives, young professionals and students as well as other interested individuals from across the world.

Certificate of Attendance - All conference participants will be awarded an official certificate of attendance upon completion of the program, which will provide details of the speakers who took part and the topics discussed.

If you would like to reserve a position and participate in the conference, please click on the link below and fill out the online application form:

Participant Papers »

The Conference Committee encourages academic research and analysis of issues related to the goals of the Conference. The Conference Committee would therefore like to welcome the participants of the conference to submit a paper they would like to be considered for presentation at the conference as well as being included in the proposal document that will be issued following the conference and will be sent to all governments and leaders of the international community worldwide.

Sustainable Network »

During the program participants will have a number of opportunities to network with one another, with the speakers, and with ICD Board Members and partners. Conference participants will become part of the ICD Alumni, a growing international network of people of diverse interests and backgrounds from around the world who share a commitment to intercultural exchange. Members of the ICD Alumni Group will benefit from the following opportunities: Alumni online forum, Advisory Board Networking, ICD support for individual Leadership Initiatives, free access to all ICD research, videos and photos as well as other event documentation. Participants will be able to remain in touch with each other through the ICD Networks. (more)