Founded in 1983, the National Council on US-Arab Relations (www.ncusar.org) is an American non-profit, non-governmental, educational organization dedicated to improving American knowledge and understanding of the Arab countries, the Middle East and the Islamic world. The organization attempts to achieve this goal through leadership development, people-to-people programs, lectures, publications and grassroots outreach.
From its offices in Washington, D.C., the National Council works with other groups to provide resources and maximize effectiveness. To this end, the National Council regularly meets with the heads of a dozen US-Arab organizations to discuss strategies for sharing information and resources.
On Sept. 12-13, 2004, the 13th Annual Arab-US Policymakers Conference (AUSPC) was convened in Washington, D.C. with the theme “Restoring Arab-US Mutual Trust and Confidence: What is Feasible? What is Necessary?” The keynote chair of the conference was Dr. John Duke Anthony, NCUSAR president and CEO.
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Legislative Council, addressed the conference on the topic, “Palestine, the Arab World and the US: Contextual and Conceptual Perspectives.” Dr. Michael C. Hudson, director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies delivered his views on “Imperial Overreach? How to Lose Friends and Alienate People in the Arab East.” The perspective of the media in the Arab world was presented by Arab News Editor in Chief Khaled Almaeena in his comments on “Media, Terrorism and Reality.”
An afternoon session on commerce, economics and energy was also well received by the audience. The experts involved in that panel included Brian Malnak, VP, Government Affairs, Shell Oil Company; Brad Bourland, chief economist, Samba Financial Group; Usamah Al-Kurdi, member, Majlis Al-Shoura and Clyde V. Prestowitz, Jr., president, Economic Strategy Institute.
