15th DEC
SATURDAY
9:00-9:45

Plenary Session Shaping Policy in an Interconnected World
9:45-10:00

Break
10:00-11:00

Plenary Session The Global Order Revisited: Old Actors, New Alliances
11:00-11:30

Plenary Session Newsmaker Interview: Brett McGurk and Vladamir Voronkov

Brett McGurk, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS
Vladamir Voronkov, U.N. Undersecretary General for Counter Terrorism
Peter Bergen (moderator), Vice President for Global Studies & Fellows, New America Foundation

11:30-12:30

Plenary Session The Growth Potential of Emerging Markets
and the Impact on the Global Economy

H.E. Ali Shareef Al-Emadi, Minister of Finance, Qatar
H.E. Berat Albayrak, Minister of Treasury and Finance, Turkey
Christian Sewing, CEO, Deutsche Bank
Chris Giles (moderator), FT Economics Editor

12:30-14:00

Networking lunch
14:00-15:00

Parallel Session 1 Bit-by-Bit: Enforcing Norms in Cyberspace

Hessa Al-Jaber, Vice Chairperson of Es’hailSat Qatar Satellite Company
Latha Reddy, Co-Chair, Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace
Marietje Schaake, Member of European Parliament, Netherlands
Latha Reddy, Co-Chair, Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace
Karin Von Hippel (moderator), Director-General of the Royal United Services Institute

Parallel Session 2 Identifying a European Role: Navigating Polarization Across the MENA Region

Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State for the Middle East at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office & Minister of State at the Department for International Development
H.E. Sigmar Gabriel, Member of the Bundestag, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mutlaq Al-Qahtani, Special Envoy of the Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar for Counterterrorism and Mediation of Conflict Resolution
Ibrahim Kalin, Special adviser to President Erdogan and the presidential spokesperson
Julien Barnes-Dacey (moderator,) Director, Middle East and North Africa Programme, ECFR

Parallel Session 3 Fact or Falsehood? The Consequences of Misinformation

Michael Rich, President, RAND
Alain Gresh, Editor, OrientXXI
Ahmed Elmagarmid, Executive director, QCRI
Nicholas Enfield, University of Sydney
Steve Clemons (moderator,) Editor-at-Large, The Atlantic

Parallel Session 4 Facilitating Peace in the Sahel: What Are the Alternatives to Militarization?

H.E. Moussa Mara, Former Prime Minister of Mali
Yéro Boly, Former Defense Minister, Burkina Faso
Phillip Carter III, Consultant, The Mead Hill Group, Former US Ambassador to Ivory Coast
Rinaldo Depagne (moderator,) West Africa Project Director, ICG

15:00-15:15

Break
15:15-15:45

Plenary Session Newsmaker Interview: Mohammad Javad Zarif

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister, Iran
Robin Wright (moderator), Writer, The New Yorker

15:45-16:15

Plenary Session: Newsmaker Interview: Achim Steiner and Vaira Vīķe-Freiberg

Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, President of the Club de Madrid and former President of Latvia
Ghida Fakhry (moderator), Current affairs presenter, TRT World

16:15-17:15

Plenary Session The Targeting and Demonization of Journalists and News Outlets: What Should Be Done?

Maria Ressa, Executive Editor, Rappler
David Schlesinger, Committee to Protect Journalists, Member, Board of Directors, Former Reuters Editor-in-Chief
Sean Spicer, Former White House Spokesman
Peter Dobbie (moderator), Al Jazeera English anchor

17:15-17:30

Closing Remarks
18:30-22:00

Dinner
16th DEC
SUNDAY
9:00-10:00

Plenary Session Prospects for International Trade and Investment

H.E. Ali Bin Ahmed Al-Kuwari, Qatar’s Minister of Commerce and Industry
Volker Treier, Member of the Bundestag
Stephane Garelli, Professor Emeritus of World Competitiveness at IMD & Professor at the University of Lausanne
John Defterios (moderator), CNN Emerging Markets Editor/Anchor

10:00-10:30

Plenary Session Newsmaker Interview: 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad

Nadia Murad, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Rawaa Augé (moderator), Al Jazeera Arabic presenter

10:30-10:45

Break
10:45-11:45

Parallel Session 1 Struggling for “Justice”: Palestine, Syria and Yemen

Baraa Shiban, Member of Transitional Justice Working Group at the Yemeni National Dialogue Conference
Staffan de Mistura, UN Special Envoy to Syria
Fadel Abdul Ghany, Chairman of the Syrian Network for Human Rights
Ata Hindi, PhD Candidate, Tilburg University
Noha Aboueldahab (moderator), Brookings Doha

Parallel Session 2 Water Sustainability and Food Security: Addressing the Crisis in Waiting

H.E Pablo Campana, Minister of Trade, Ecuador
Bader Al Dafa, Executive Director, Global Dryland Alliance
Djimé Adoum, Executive Secretary, Permanent Committee for Drought in the Sahel
Miguel Cuyaube, Future U.N. High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations
Dareen Abughaida (moderator,) Presenter, Al Jazeera English

Parallel Session 3 Asian Connectivity Conundrums: From Trade Routes to Trade Strategy

Mohamad Maliki, Senior Minister of State (Defense and Foreign Affairs), Singapore
Manish Tewari, Former Union Minister of State, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, India
Theresa Fallon, Director, Center for Russia Europe Asia Studies, Belgium
Lu Miao, Secretary General of Center for China and Globalization
Samir Saran (moderator,) President, ORF

Parallel Session 4 Russia’s Evolving Global Role

Andrey Kortunov, Director-General, Russian Affairs Council
Fahd Al-Attiyah, Qatar’s Ambassador to Russia
Vitaly Naumkin, Director, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences
Paul Saunders, Executive Director, Center for National Interest
Timofei Bordachev (moderator,) Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club

11:45-13:15

Lunch
13:15-13:45

Plenary Session Newsmaker Interview: Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Foreign Minister, Turkey

13:45-14:45

Plenary Session New Age Energy Policy: A Balancing Act

H.E. Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President & CEO of Qatar Petroleum
Yury Sentyurin, Secretary-General, GECF
Claudio Descalzi, CEO, ENI
Dmitry Zhdannikov (moderator), Editor in Charge, Energy, EMEA, Thomson Reuters

14:45-15:15

Plenary Session Newsmaker Interview: Saeb Erakat

Saeb Erakat, Chief Palestinian Negotiator
Steve Clemons (moderator), Editor-at-Large, The Atlantic

15:15-15:30

Break
15:30-16:30

Parallel Session 1 Gender and Mediation: The Role of Women in Conflict Resolution

Delia Albert, Philippines Former Foreign Secretary
H.E. Ivonne A-Baki, Ambassador of Ecuador to Qatar
Ann Phillips, Senior Advisor, U.S. Institute of Peace
Meenakshi Gopinath, Director, Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace
Mely Anthony (moderator), Head of Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, RSIS

Parallel Session 2 Countering Violent Extremism: Recruitment, Rhetoric and Radicalization

Anne Speckhard, Director, ICSVE
Peter Bergen, Vice President for Global Studies & Fellows, New American Foundation
Elisabeth Kendall, Senior Research Fellow, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Oxford University
Omar Mulbocus, UK Prevent Counselor
Alberto Fernandez (moderator), President, Middle East Broadcasting

Parallel Session 3 Changing Societies: The Rise of Populist Movements and their Impact on National Values, Identities, and Policies

Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Professor of Politics, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies
John Esposito, Professor, Religion and International Affairs, Georgetown University
Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York City
Terri Givens, Political Scientist
Dana El-Kurd (moderator), Researcher, The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies

Parallel Session 4 The Geopolitics of Natural Resources: New Energy Routes and the Future of Energy Security?

Kristian Ulrichsen, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy & Associate Fellow, Chatham House
Mahjoob Zweiri, Director of Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University
Mikhail Krutikhin, Partner and Energy Analyst at RusEnergy
Majed Al-Ansari (moderator), Manager of Policy at QU Social and Economic Survey Research Institute

16:30-16:45

Break
16:45-17:45

Plenary Session How Can the International Community Best Serve Those Most in Need?

Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF
Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
Robert Malley (moderator), President and CEO, International Crisis Group

17:45-18:15

Keynote Address H.E. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General, UN
18:15-18:30

Closing Remarks
20:00-21:30

Networking dinner

Doha Forum is a global platform for dialogue, bringing together leaders in policy to build innovative and action driven networks.
Mission

Established in 2000, the Doha Forum is a platform for global dialogue on critical challenges facing our world. The Doha Forum promotes the interchange of ideas, discourse, policy making, and action oriented recommendations. In a world where borders are porous, our challenges and solutions are also interlinked.
Doha Forum 2018

Advancements in every sector have reshaped the world and made it more interconnected and globalized than ever before. The butterfly effect, resulting from such unique interconnectedness, requires that we think outside the box of modern and applicable policies to deal with the growing challenges that threaten us all. We now live in a world where nation states and their domestic policies affect other nations, where seemingly unrelated foreign policy of nations affect citizens of the world. Today, states and non-state actors play an equally important role in politics and policies.

The world is living through a period of rapid changes, with potentially enormous implications globally. Great power rivalries are resurgent. Regional powers are increasingly struggling for influence in their neighborhoods and beyond. International institutions and norms are under siege. The world more interconnected than it has ever been, but is also fragmented?

This year, in its eighteenth edition, the Doha Forum will serve as a platform to discuss the “Shaping Policy in an Interconnected World” and focus on four essential themes:

Security
Peace and Mediation
Economic Development
Trends and Transitions

Shaping Policy in an Interconnected World

Different countries have had varied reactions to ongoing conflicts. Some countries have receded their international presence and started looking towards domestic concerns and some nations have created global roles for themselves. As major powers compete or look inwards, increasingly forceful regional powers jockey for geostrategic advantage. International law and customary norms have lost traction; many conflicts today see grave violations of the laws of war.

All this brings new complexity to crisis management. Indeed, warzones across the world have become a principal arena for geopolitical struggles. Most wars today are intra-state but involve outside powers – not just neighbours or major powers, as was the case in the past, but an array of others too. What does ending a war look like when those involved view it mostly through the lens of interests elsewhere?

The Doha Forum would examine what these trends mean for conflict prevention and resolution. Security; is a complex but necessary matter. We will explore traditional and non-traditional ways of security. Cybersecurity is being used by countries and non-state actors; expensive wars resource consuming cyber wars are being waged. Wars that are not tangible, have no rules and rarely have any winners. At the Doha Forum we will be discussing the cybersecurity, its future and how we work together as nations.

In terms of food security, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), more than 800 million people in today’s world are undernourished. This alarming number requires that we act fast to solve this epidemic. Food security is a growing challenge to most countries located on dryland areas. Drylands are home to nearly 2 billion people and cover 40 percent of the world’s land surface. These global challenges can only be resolved by coalitions of countries working together to provide for each other.

In the most traditional manner; defense and defense spending is always a priority for nation states; this challenge is convoluted; nations buy weapons to prevent war but also to be prepared for war; this delicate balance is tested every day. Are security coalitions still relevant? How can we work together to ensure nations are held accountable for their actions but are also able to protect themselves? This paradigm makes it so that there are nations and peoples struggling for justice while at the same time
economies of war are being stimulated. Economic sanctions are a tool for states to pressure their adversaries, but are they effective or obsolete?

The world’s shifting power dynamics indicate that we will inevitably need new policies to achieve peace and security in the international order. As evident in wars that we have witnessed the last few years, peace and mediation have become complex schemes of interests and long-term global implications. How can countries come together and build an incentive structure for long-lasting peace amongst nations? How can international law and international communities support peace and mediation?
Economic development has seen unprecedented growth. GDP of countries has increased and standards of living have improved. Countries are investing into new markets and alternative energy sources. When we talk about economic development we now need to include foreign investment funds and international coalitions as the European Union, OPEC, and new competitive
markets such as Africa.

We must not lose sight of the progress interconnectedness has brought to our world. The global crime rate, world hunger and disease related deaths are at their lowest. This is not a coincidence, world leaders have worked together to ensure a sustainable world. Leaders have enacted smart, forward-looking policies. While the improvements are great, so are the challenges. We now live in a world with changing societies and dynamics, countries are facing challenges with a seemingly eruption of ideologies from liberalism to conservatism. Interests group and ideology across nations are also more potent in a world where information or misinformation is now widespread. Does that make us interconnected or fragmented?

We must learn from the best practices of our world and scale to the next level. Education, innovation and collaboration should be at the heart of our work as we face our common challenges together. Most importantly, fair and relevant policies that guide and govern our work must be adapted and respected by all. The narrative of the modern world has proved that acting collectively is the only way we can address and solve our challenges.

The 2018 Doha Forum brings together political figures, thought leaders, governmental agencies, and civic society organizations with the aim of facilitating dialogue about how conscious policymaking can guide us to our global tomorrow. The forum addresses today’s urgent issues and ways the international community can come together to solve them. The forum also highlights the modern success models and discusses how we can expand on them and replicate them. Through active and
responsible global leadership, our possibilities are limitless.
Previous Editions
Gallery

Videos
Doha Forum 2005

“ Our aspirations and goals are for this forum to be more than a platform for dialogue and consultation, but also a tribune for enlightened thinkers to present proposals and solutions that could be converted into concrete plans, policies and programs for the benefit of Humanity.” – Deputy Prime Minister &
Minister of Foreign Affairs, HE Sheikh / Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al Thani.
Doha Forum 2006

“ I commend the State of Qatar and His Highness the Emir of the State of Qatar for organizing this important gathering, whose continuation has made it a beacon of hope for the entire region of the Middle East.” – Vice-Minister for foreign affairs of Japan, Professor Akiko Yamanaka.
Doha Forum 2007

“ I would like to pay tribute to His Highness, Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani. His leadership has opened new avenues for political participation in his country. Qatar is a fitting host for this important international forum.” – Secretary-General United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.
Doha Forum 2008

“ I welcome you all to the Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade in its 8th Session. Undoubtedly, this high level participation in this Forum is a sign of progress and an added value to the importance of the effective role it plays in the service of political, economic and social development programs.” – Amir of the State of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
Doha Forum 2009

“ My conviction is also that it is pointless to talk of democracy without understanding how different cultures, different languages, can also be respected and transmitted. ”-Former French president, JACQUES CHIRAC.
Doha Forum 2010

“ So, our common challenges are becoming more and more multi-dimensional and global. This means that our cooperation must also be global. Therefore, from the different G’s the most important “G” is the G-192 – the United Nations.” – President of Finland, TARJA HALONEN.
Doha Forum 2011

“ Let me start by expressing my appreciation of the role Qatar is playing in bringing ideas, interests and personalities together for important discussions – also during these crucial days ” – Foreign Minister of Sweden, Carl Bildt.
Doha Forum 2012

“ This forum (Doha Forum) is of special importance in the context of the current global financial crisis, the emphasis on education, training, and development. It also looks at the importance of foreign investment and international aid in achieving national development ” – President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa
Doha Forum 2013

“ Platforms like the Doha Forum are extremely important to find solutions to regional and international issues ” – Director of the Center for Middle East Development at UCLA Steven L. Spiege
Doha Forum 2014

“ We clearly share, from our diverse stances, the passion to construct a new world. A safer world, fairer, more inclusive, more in peace, more secure, with greater understanding amongst people ” – Vice President of Argentina, Amado Boudou.
Doha Forum 2015

“ You have to be clear why you want change and what reforms mean ” – HE Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
Doha Forum 2016

“ This forum is very important, not only because of the topics but due to the opportunity it provides to learn ” – Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, Ján Kubiš
Doha Forum 2017

“I would like to thank the organizers of the Doha forum for bringing together so many government officials, business people and other dynamic partners. We would also like to express appreciation to His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani Qatar’s support to the United Nations. The country continues to play a key role in ensuring timely, predictable and flexible financing to help the United Nations meet the needs of vulnerable people. ” – Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, H.E Amina Mohammed.
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