New York: The 13th session of the US-Islamic World Forum, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Brookings Institution, concluded in New York City yesterday.
Held under the theme “Crisis and Cooperation”, the two-day Forum included working sessions on a number of important topics, with the participation of a distinguished number of politicians, officials, academics, opinion leaders, businessmen, culture and media professionals from the US and from all parts of the Islamic world.
The second and final day witnessed several discussions in two sessions. The first focused on the political future of Islam, and the future of traditional Islamists and their relationship with other groups and ideologies in the light of the current political realities in the Middle East and South Asia.
The participants also discussed the experiences of Islamic movements in national contexts and stressed the need to evaluate the mechanism of dialogue under ideological divisions and to identify the main issues that are not agreed upon by different political groups.
The second session, on “Refugees and Cities”, made a number of recommendations on best practices for cities facing challenges related to migration, especially the political, economic and social challenges they face in dealing with the influx of refugees and migrants.
The participants stressed the need to understand the differences between refugees and migrants, including the special needs and protection of refugees under the international law.
The last session of the Forum discussed the post-conflict reconstruction in war-torn countries in the region.
The US-Islamic World Forum, organised by the Permanent Committee for Organizing Conferences at the Foreign Ministry, began on Sunday in New York.
The 13th session of the Forum discussed several issues related to the relations between the US and the Islamic world, the Middle East peace process, economy, security, human development, science and technology, and the role of the press and media.
The Forum represents an opportunity to exchange views on political, economic and scientific topics of common interest in order to reach practical results and solutions that serve the Islamic world.
The Forum addressed topics of significant importance, which included current crises, Arab opinion and identity, and how democracy and development are compatible with issues of religious freedom, in addition to issues related to social change, economic growth, culture, arts and women’s rights.
The event represents an important occasion for strengthening the relations and cooperation between the Islamic world and the United States by correcting many misconceptions about the Islamic world and its current issues, especially that the vision of the State of Qatar, inspired by the directives of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, seeks to highlight the bright face of Islam and Muslims and remove the stereotypes or misconceptions that have spread in recent years.
First held in 2011, the US-Islamic World Forum held all its twelve sessions in Doha with the exception of one session held in Washington in April 2011.
