Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (GU-Q) second annual Georgetown Young Leader’s Summit (GYLS) concluded after an intensive three-day workshop.
The workshop brought together young leaders from Qatar and Mena, South and South East Asia to collaborate on the current critical international relations issues facing the region.
Jim Seevers, interim director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and director of the GYLS programme, said the participants were “an incredibly talented and diverse group of young leaders from the worlds of business, finance, NGOs, healthcare, government, consulting and teaching and politics.”
“They learned a great deal and enriched our community - including Georgetown faculty, students, and others in Doha - with their ideas and insights,” he said.
The participants, chosen through a careful nomination process to identify the best candidates, engaged with Georgetown faculty and other experts on vital global issues.
Topics included conflict prevention in the Middle East, presented by Dr Ibrahim Sharqieh, GU-Q teaching fellow and deputy director of the Brookings Doha Centre, and issues surrounding equity in Qatar’s healthcare system by Dr Faleh Mohamed Hussain Ali, assistant secretary general for policy affairs, Supreme Council of Health.
Other topics included climate change, economic development, information flows, water scarcity, and the ongoing developments of the Arab Spring.
Afaf Khoshman, a media analyst from Jordan working at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) said the lectures and topics were really inspiring.
The highlight of the conference was a formal dinner on Saturday evening featuring a keynote address by Mahmoud Qutub, executive director for Strategy and Programme Performance, Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, the organisation responsible for co-ordinating government agencies to ensure infrastructure and development projects are delivered in readiness for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
He told the participants that their ideas, enthusiasm, and innovative spirit create the ideal foundation locally and regionally to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
This programme complements the Georgetown Leadership Seminar in Washington, DC, a premier executive education and network building programme for senior leaders from the public, private, and non-profit sectors all over the world.