In December 2013, the Centre organised a Joint Symposium on “Security in the Arabian Gulf” with the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR). Senior academics and policymakers from the UK, Europe, the US, the Gulf region, China and Russia exchanged views and analyses at the event, which was hosted at ECSSR’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Dr Jamal Sanad Al-Suweidi, ECSSR Director General, and the Centre’s Director welcomed participants to the opening session of the event.
The Symposium, which was widely reported in the UAE press, addressed security in all its aspects - military, economic, environmental, social - and in the light of its national, regional and global dimensions. Participants identified future challenges for the region, including the impacts of the continuing change and instability in a number of Arab countries, and also the opportunities to maximise the positive impacts of the region both regionally and internationally.
This was the inaugural event in an important new partnership with the Emirates Centre and it is planned that such meetings will be convened on an annual basis, alternately in Abu Dhabi and in Oxford. The second in the series is planned for Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, in the autumn of 2014.