CSIS ANNOUNCES CONTINUATION OF PROGRAM ON THE CHANGING GULF
October 23, 2008
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) today announced that it will continue its highly successful Gulf-focused initiative through 2009. The initiative, part of CSIS’ Middle East Program, analyzes the new challenges and opportunities that arise from the increasing economic clout of the Gulf states and their growing influence in regional and global security. The initiative includes a wide range of activities including a monthly roundtable, conferences, delegations to the Gulf, and original research.
As part of its “Changing Gulf” initiative, CSIS will continue to assemble a diverse group of regional experts, policymakers, academics, and business leaders to participate in a series of monthly roundtable briefings that will build greater awareness and understanding of the region’s complexities. CSIS also plans to host a major conference in the spring of 2009 that will focus on the Gulf region and what’s at stake there for U.S. national security and commercial interests.
“The Gulf is a rising force in global affairs, but it remains poorly understood in the United States in general, and in Washington in particular,” said CSIS Middle East Program Director Jon B. Alterman. “The CSIS Gulf initiative will help us focus more attention on this understudied part of the Middle East, and help policymakers think through opportunities and challenges in this very important part of the world.”
Since it launched the initiative in 2007, CSIS has hosted more than a dozen “Gulf Roundtable” briefings, which provide an informative and engaging forum for experts in the foreign policy community to discuss U.S.-Gulf relations and the major issues that affect this critical relationship.
Gulf Roundtable topics have included the strategic importance of Gulf energy, the war on terror, trade liberalization and prospects for greater regional integration. Previous speakers have included former U.S. government officials, NGO leaders, and international authors, journalists, and lecturers.
Additional components of the initiative include a monograph examining the changing political economy of the Gulf, as well as a CSIS-led delegation of U.S. foreign policy and security experts to the Gulf region for discussions with senior officials, academics, and businessmen.
The CSIS “Changing Gulf” initiative has received a generous donation of $280,000 from the U.S.-Emirates Alliance, which covers the CSIS personnel costs associated with the effort. CSIS also relies on additional support to sustain its Gulf-related activities. As a bipartisan and nonprofit organization, CSIS determines the subjects of its research and maintains complete autonomy as to the findings and conclusions of that research.