RIYADH, 10 December 2005 — A leading US institute for conflict analysis and resolution seeks Saudi experience in management without conflicts.
“We are deeply impressed by the manner in which Saudi Arabia has managed a couple of transitions. It was moving very fast without a civil war,” Sara Cob, director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) of George Mason University (GMU), told Arab News yesterday.
Cob, who is currently leading a six-member delegation to the Kingdom on an invitation from King Saud University, has held discussions with Dr. Abdulmohsin Al-Akkas, minister of social affairs.
“We are specialized in conflict studies and we are very serious about the minister’s views on the management of Kingdom’s cultural transition,” Cob said, following her talks with the minister.
She added that she is keen on getting professionals, lecturers and collaborators to her institute to exchange experience. She noted that the minister showed interest in setting up a Saudi-US dialogue to bridge the gap between the two peoples.
While explaining the purpose of her visit, she said her mission was to promote flow of ideas between ICAR and the Kingdom. At a global level, the mission’s purpose is to open up opportunities for dialogue across the divide that has formed between the West and the Arab world, she pointed out.
“We are very concerned about this divide and we want to do whatever we can to bridge that gap,” she said. “As an institute interested in conflict analysis and resolution, we are also concerned with the American foreign policy, which has exacerbated the difficulties and made the world a more dangerous place.”
Dr. Al-Akkas said the Kingdom underwent a series of reforms smoothly in an Arab and Islamic environment without any social upheavals. “We are open to new ideas and prepared to exchange experiences with the rest of the world, which would benefit the Kingdom in any form,” Al-Akkas said after the talks.
