Gulf Development Forum: Forty Years of Development Dialogue
The main paper was presented by Dr. Ibrahim Al-Bayez, commented on by Dr. Maha Al-Munif and Dr. Fouzia Al-Bakr, and the debate was moderated by Dr. Aisha Hijazi. The paper stated that, since its inception, the Gulf Development Forum has sought to become a platform that provides an intellectual atmosphere that would strengthen the relationship and interaction among the people of the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council on development issues and the difficulties they face. To achieve this mission, a series of annual meetings have been organized to present research papers written by people of states of the Gulf Cooperation Council who are members or non-members of the Forum. The Executive Committee of the Forum collects these papers with the discussions and comments that have taken place on them. Then, they publish a hard copy of the book and a soft PDF copy that is made accessible to the interested people.
The comments emphasized that the establishment of the Forum, which is non-governmental, and its continuity for forty years is an achievement in itself, is a credit for the first generation, especially since many non-government initiatives in the region usually have a short history. Perhaps the initiative taken by the Forum to honor the first generation, among them late Dr. Ahmed Al-Rabi’y, who was honored by naming the 39th conference after him, is an initiative that deserves all due respect.
The comments also indicated that what is special about this Forum is the highly professional proposals and handling issues that may be thorny. Among such issues are the democracy and constitutional life, the Gulf legislator, the Gulf citizenship, the civil society organizations, and other local issues that are concerned with development. This is very evident from the resumes and careers of its members who belong to all States of the Gulf region. Therefore, the Forum has witnessed since its inception major figures in the Gulf region including Dr. Al-Rumaihi, Dr, Usamah Abdulrahman, Turki Al-Hamad Al-Nifaisi, Dr. Abdullah Al-Guaiz, Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Jalal, and many other figures who have reputation and esteem in the Gulf States.
In addition, the Forum takes the matter very seriously in discussing all issues despite the absence of an official umbrella that can adopt some of the proposals. It boldly records what it sees as vital issues, and tries to make its voice reach the decision-maker.
The contributions made on the main paper indicated that one of the most prominent contributions of the Gulf Development Forum was organizing 39 conferences and publishing more than 30 books on development issues. It also contributed to communication between those interested in development issues in the Cooperation Council.
The contributions made it clear that the forum was able during its relatively long years to provide an umbrella through which Gulf intellectuals found an outlet to express their opinions freely that public climates do not provide in their countries. The topics addressed by the forum varied under the framework of development in its comprehensive concept. The forefront of these issues are the economic issues. They also include public finance, and the water dilemma, youth issues, development management … and others.
Among the most important recommendations were the following:
- That Gulf Development Forum should have working teams in each Gulf country. Such teams should be tasked with monitoring the most important issues of their State, collecting them from the other countries and presenting them to the main Forum to choose common issues to be addressed each year.
- Participation should be expanded and diversified in the Forum.
- The Forum outcomes, including studies and research papers, should be provided to the Gulf States’ governments so that they can used as references.
- The Forum outcomes should be printed and distributed, and made accessible to researchers and interested people.
- Daily messages should be sent about the opinions and recommendations offered during the Forum. They should be articulated in a clear and direct language that can be understood by all people.
