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About the Conference:
In addition to traditional partners like the United States and Europe and emerging relations with Asian countries, it is clear that the Gulf
States must also look further towards Africa as a future essential economic and political partner. Despite distinctive attributes that link
Gulf and African states, their relations are eventually viewed as asymmetrical and fluctuant. Economically, although investments and
trade between both regions have been increasing, the existing economic ties are still restricted to certain industrial sectors such as
extractive industry, telecommunications, tourism and real estate. Moreover, these activities are geographically limited to certain countries:
not all African countries trade with the Gulf States and vice-versa. Politically speaking, some historical and cultural ties have ensured the
existence of a relationship between some Gulf member states and some African states. However, overall the relationship existing between
the two regions remains weak. Beyond bilateral diplomatic relations, little is done by both sides to strengthen their regional power. It is with
this realization in mind that this conference aims to cement the Gulf -Africa relationship by offering an in-depth assessment of the status
of ties and a clear outlook to where the relationship could be heading.
The Gulf-Africa Strategy Forum will become an annual GRC conference event which will commence in February 2009 by bringing together
the key leaders and personalities from business, academia, government and media to outline the main issues and challenges facing more
constructive relations between the key regions of Africa and the Gulf. Scheduled for February 24 and 25, 2009, the first gathering will run
under the theme of “Gulf and Africa: Developing a New Strategic Partnership.” Far from being a static exercise, the main purpose of this
event will be to propose a set of policy recommendations that can ensure that the opportunities in closer Africa-Gulf ties are highlighted
and adequately responded to. Of equal importance is to identify trends and future prospects to maximize benefits and advantages of such
relation.
In addition to ensuring a broad participation from different professional sectors, the objectives of this conference will be to cover a wide
range of issues, in an attempt to answer the coming challenges and questions raised by this strong but nascent relationship. In the
context of increasing demand for primary commodities of countries such as China and India and regions such as the Gulf, it is crucial to
scrutinize this growing market in order to define where the future Gulf investors should focus. A particular emphasis will also be put on the
identification of the new economic sectors which will become the center of Gulf investments. Security issues will also be examined and
conclusions will be drawn as to how to improve a situation that is directly affecting Africa’s society and economy and indirectly, the Gulf
investment and homeland security. As a backbone to this fruitful discussion, the question of strengthening a political voice between the two
regions will be raised and posed as a necessity in the face of international politics and the regionalization of conflicts. Finally, the significant
amount of aid sent to the whole continent by the Gulf States every year cannot be ignored; therefore, it is important to examine its quality
and impact and to define the future role of the region in Africa’s development. This relationship is particularly important to investigate into
as the World Bank has called for the Gulf Sovereign Wealth Funds to inject 1% of their benefits into Africa. Such action will considerably
increase the amount of aid sent to the continent and it is therefore imperative to identify the best ways of doing so.
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