The Arab Strategy Forum is an annual conference, held in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Forum aims to be a platform for public and private sector leaders to develop future strategies, particularly with a focus on the coming year. Arab_Strategy_Forum_2018

Launch

Launched in 2004, originally as a biennial three-day event titled the Dubai Strategy Forum, the Forum was conceived to promote debate on policy in the Arab world. It was renamed the Arab Strategy Forum in 2006. The keynote address at the inaugural forum was given by former US President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. It was relaunched in 2009 under the

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monothe ...

. Currently managed by The Executive Office of the Ruler of Dubai,

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum ( ar, محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم, links=no; ; born 15 July 1949) is the vice president, prime minister, and minister of defence of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as well as the ruler of Dubai. H ...

, the event sets out to enable leaders to make strategically informed decisions, navigate risks and exploit opportunities. A one-day event, its theme is typically set by examining predictions for the year ahead both in the Arab and wider world.

Content

The Forum has frequently provided headline-grabbing insights. In 2015 it published a report costing the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...

at $833.7 billion (attributing this to losses in GDP, drops in tourism; stock and financial market losses and drops in Foreign Direct Investment). In 2016, addressing the forum,

Leon Panetta Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is an American Democratic Party politician who has served in several different public office positions, including Secretary of Defense, CIA Director, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the Office of ...

, former director of the CIA and former US Secretary of Defence, together with former British Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

, jointly called for a regional alliance against terrorism. Panetta asserted such a coalition “could be a powerful signal to Iran that it can’t go into countries as it did in Yemen and Syria.” The forum has often hosted contradictory views. In 2015 former British Foreign Secretary

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

pointed to the growing threat of Daesh, while in 2014

Francis Fukuyama Francis Yoshihiro Fukuyama (; born October 27, 1952) is an American political scientist, political economist, international relations scholar and writer. Fukuyama is known for his book ''The End of History and the Last Man'' (1992), which argue ...

claimed the threat posed by the group had been overblown by media and the US. In 2018 both former French President Francois Hollande and former US Defense Secretary

Robert Gates Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011. He was originally appointed by president George W. Bush an ...

used the Forum as a platform to roundly condemn the US decision to open an embassy in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. The Forum also produces a number of reports annually.

References

{{Reflist Events in Dubai International conferences in the United Arab Emirates