Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, the 2014 Conference of Arab Research Centers will open its doors on Saturday, December 6, 2014. “The GCC Countries: Politics and Economics in Light of Regional and International Shifts and Changes” presents an opportunity for scholars and policy makers to discuss the issues facing the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The scale of the conference and its academic focus on the GCC make it unprecedented, with roughly one half of the academics presenting during the meeting coming from Gulf countries.

Conference proceedings begin at 9:00 AM on Saturday, December 6. His Excellency Abdulrahman Bin Hamad Al Attiyah, former Secretary General of the GCC, will deliver a lecture at the formal opening ceremony at 6:00 PM on the same day. H.E. Jamal Benomar, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Yemen, will deliver a second opening lecture titled “The Role of the GCC in Bridging Regional Crises: Lessons from the Yemeni Experience”. The two opening speeches will be followed by a panel discussion focused on “The Future Prospects of the GCC in Light of the Current Circumstances”.

The conference’s academic agenda will include research and scholarship focused on the GCC and presented by more than 70 scholars and researchers, covering the breadth of the social sciences. Additionally, noted intellectual and university academic Immanuel Wallerstein (pictured) will present a lecture titled “The Decline of US Power and its Consequences for Geopolitics in the Gulf”.

The Conference of Arab Research Centers is an annual event hosted by Doha’s Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, and provides a venue for representatives of the Arab region’s most important policy research institutes, and selected non-Arab policy institutes to confer.  The 2014 conference, the third annual meeting, will continue through to Monday, December 8, 2014. The proceedings will take place at Doha’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel.