MED | Al Sharq Youth

Concept

In preparation of the annual meeting on the occasion of the Rome MED conference that shall be held in November 2018, the MED Young Leaders community and Al Sharq Youth community will take part in a “Mid-Term Meeting” aimed at sharing the collective experience on topics of common interest for the youth in the broader Mediterranean region. The event will follow a close-door preparatory Workshop, and will focus on the youth perspective and role in building a regional security dialogue in the MENA region. The event will be divided into two main sessions, which will focus on the role of both regional and international players, and their impact on shaping a security dialogue in the region.

09.20
WELCOMING REMARKS
Galip Dalay, Director, Al Sharq Forum, Turkey
Valeria Talbot, Senior Research Fellow and Co-Head of ISPI’s Middle East and North Africa Centre, ISPI, Italy
09.30
OPENING SPEECHES
Wadah Khanfar, President, Al Sharq Forum, Istanbul, Turkey
Federica Ferrari Bravo, Consul General, Italian Consulate General, Istanbul, Turkey
10.00
REGIONAL POWERS AND ALLIANCES: IMPLICATIONS ON SHARED SECURITY
What are the new axis or regional blocs? What implications do they have on the regional security? How can the MENA
region move from the further fragmentation generated by the emerging regional blocs to engage in a new regional
security dialogue? What principles and values need to be taken into account? From state to society, from regime to
people, whose security should form the basis of the regional dialogue?

chair Galip Dalay
Imen Ben Mohammed, Member of Parliament, Tunisia
Hassan Imran, Researcher in International Relations, Palestine
Mustafa Kaymaz, Researcher, Al Sharq Forum, Turkey
Adnan Tabatabai, CEO, Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO), Germany
11.30
Coffee Break
11.45
OLD AND NEW: FOREIGN ACTORS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
What are the old and new players able to affect the course of events in the Mediterranean? What are the features of
new actors’ (China, India, etc.) engagement with the region? How have the roles of the traditional actors (Europe, US,
Russia) in the region evolved? How do the old and new actors interact with each other in the region? How does their
interaction impact the regional security? What role can and do Europe play on the regional security in Mediterranean?

chair Valeria Talbot
Abdul Rahman Alageli, Former Security File Coordinator, Office of the Prime Minister; Former Deputy Head,
Inter-Ministerial Committee on Border Security, Atlantic Council, Libya
Adam Bensaïd, Senior Cabinet Manager, Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation,
Organization of Islamic Cooperation
Farah Hallaba, Expert and Researcher in Middle East Political Sociology and Minorities, Egypt
Elham Hassanzadeh, Managing Director, Energy Pioneers, United Kingdom
13.15
Closing remarks