A two-day conference that aims to explore new approaches to Gulf security got under way on the Qatar University (QU) campus yesterday.
The conference, titled Towards a New Gulf Security Regime: Abandoning Zero-Sum Approaches, is jointly organised by QU’s Gulf Studies Centre and the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies (AJCS).
It is being attended by a large number of researchers, both from within Qatar and abroad.
The conference sessions tackle a number of topics.
These include the experiences of security systems in the Gulf region by analysing their contexts and the reasons behind their failures; the nature of the current Gulf system, addressing its traditional and more recent threats; current security approaches to demonstrate the current Gulf system’s capability of dealing with threats; and, the features of the desired security system, a press statement notes.
Qatar University president Dr Hassan Rashid al-Derham opened the conference and welcomed guests from abroad and participants from within Qatar, including embassy representatives and attending QU students.
He said: “On behalf of the university, I value this co-operation between us and our colleagues at the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies and Gulf Studies Centre (GSC), with whom we share a common vision of the importance of in-depth discussions on issues, which contribute to increased intellectual output and assist in the study and analysis of regional and international developments.”
Citing recent political developments, al-Derham noted: “The Gulf is witnessing alarming developments and escalations that reflect the failure of current security processes and prevent the security and stability of the region.
“As an example from the past, the Gulf security system failed to prevent the invasion of Kuwait, and now in the present, it was unable to protect its members.
“Qatar was subject to the cyber-hacking of the Qatar News Agency in 2017, which resulted in a blockade that continues until today.”
Al-Derham concluded by confirming that Qatar University is “always proud to host events of this vital nature, and noted that this conference comes in conjunction with many regional security developments that require study, analysis and a mapping of future scenarios”.
He added that he is pleased to see a group of experts participating in the conference as well as local and international researchers who specialise in Gulf security and security issues.
The conference featured the contribution of a number of local speakers, including AJCS director Dr Mohamed Mukhtar al-Khalil, GSC director Dr Mahjoob Zweiri, QU Political Science professor Dr Mohamed al-Mesfer, and Dr Mohamed al-Saidi, also a professor from QU.
Dr al-Derham, Dr Zweiri, and Dr al-Mesfer at the conference.
