The opening of the Fikr 6 Conference, organized by ‘The Arab Thought Foundation (ATF) was attended by H.H. Sheikh Sulman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa and the Head of ATF, HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal.

    The opening ceremony was administered by the General Secretary of the ATF, Dr. Suleiman Abdulmunim. In his opening address, he declared, ‘it is our pleasure that the conference has gathered a cluster of businessmen and men of intellect with prosperous visions from all the corners of the world’. As he also spoke of the youth’s involvement in the activities of the conference so that they all can share their different point of views concerning the present and the future.

    Then, the Head of ATF, H.H. Amir Khalid Al Faisal took the turn to thank His Highness Hamad Bin Issa Al khalifa for his generous invitation and his eminent sponsorship of the conference. And he thanked H.H. Sheikh Sulman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the ‘Agent Partner in the founding of the Institution’, and the Bahrain both as a government and people for its generous hospitality.

    He pointed out that the sixth annual conference of ATF proposes to discuss ‘The Arab Strategies for the Global Era’ gathering experts from the Arab world and their counterparts from around the world, along with elites among the youth for whom the Institution has organized a meeting in Beirut paving the way to share their opinions and speculations concerning the issues of their nations. His Highness added that he aspires that the conference results in speculations, plans, and methods that insure the confident and strong entrance of the Arab World into this Era. And he noted that it is this aspiration that drove him six years ago to launch this cooperative intermingling between money and intellect which lies at the basis of ATF in contribution to the Arab ‘Renaissance’ Project to step into the world of Globalisation. Furthermore, Amir Faisal mentioned that ‘Fikr 6’ initiated its business at the first meeting with the ‘renaissance’ partners to which ATF has invited its Arab foils in order to negotiate this issue for the sake of cooperation and the building up of efforts in the service of the unified Arab Project. And he noted that the conference would be closed by the first award distribution ceremony honouring the winners of the Arab Creativity Award in its seven fields.

    Afterwards, H.H. Sheik Sulman Bin Hamad paid tribute to his Highness Hamad Bin Issa Al Khalifa and wished him success in his project, as he also thanked Amir Khalid Al Faisal for his generous hospitality in inviting the sixth conference to be held in Bahrain.

    ‘Your choice to tackle this important issue consisting of a study to come up with an Arab strategy allowing the adjustment to and profit from the political, economic, and cultural changes imposed by Globalisation, stems from your awareness of the grand importance of this issue’, his Highness declared.

    Moreover, he pointed out that the issue being tackled about the relation of the Arab World and Globalisation is not to be taken as promulgation against globalization, for Globalisation is a novel reality the world is witnessing, and it is based on the competition and cooperation among the economic entities over the resources, technologies, cultures, and ideas. Thus, staying outside this current guarantees no success to any nation.

    We then must be open, since it is our duty, insisted his Highness, to look forward to start where others have stopped in the development process. And he listed several points to be taken into consideration, these are: first, satisfying the needs of this novel reality by taking advantage of the succinct opportunities in a better way in all fields; second, the necessity to work on entering the Information and Technology Sector by employing it to the service of economic development, thus creating more job opportunities for the citizens and encouraging creativity and individual participation; and finally safeguarding the Arab identity against the risk of ‘uniformisation’ placed by Globalisation by rather having a harmonious competition aspects insuring success to all parties while preserving the cultural diversities and differences.

    ‘It is a challenge, added his Highness, that the conference results in a realistic view based on the success of some Arab states and the states around the world in dealing with Globalization. The message behind this conference is addressed to the principals in the Arab world stressing that competing in the traditional way will be to no avail’.

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