Strategic Fiker Center Studies, in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Index Program to measure the most influential centers around the world, organized a symposium entitled: The future of think tanks and political advice in the Middle East, with the participation and attendance of heads and representatives of Turkish and Arab research centers.
The symposium opened with a speech by the Director of Strategic Fiker Center Studies, Mr. Abdul Karim Al-Hubaishi, who stressed the need to activate efforts between the various think tanks and research institutions through discussion sessions, and to hold seminars to discuss issues of concern to research centers, and indicated that this symposium comes within the objectives of Strategic Fiker Center Studies, which seeks to cooperate with various research centers, and also seeks to develop researchers’ capabilities in order to improve the performance and roles of these centers, and this is reflected in the quality of research work.
The symposium included two sessions. The first session discussed the necessity of establishing an international community for leading research centers to provide advice. Dr. Hussain Al-Batkin, from the SETA Foundation, spoke about the subject of research centers in the Middle East. Where to? While Dr. Helmy Ozeef, representative of the ORSAM Center for Middle Eastern Studies, spoke about the roles of think tanks in providing political advice, researcher Ilham Al-Hadabi, representative of Strategic Fiker Center Studies, spoke about the topic of the Pennsylvania Index and think tanks in the Middle East: standards and impact.
In the second session of the symposium, the issue of think tanks in the Middle East and the multiplicity of polarization circles was discussed, in which Dr. Jamal Nassar, a professor at Sabah El-Din Zaim University, spoke about think tanks and opinion in circles of polarization and the necessities of maintaining credibility. While Dr. Zakaria Korsun, President of the Middle East and African Studies Association, spoke on the topic of think tanks in Turkey and the Middle East.
It is noteworthy that this symposium coincided with the establishment of other symposia coordinated with the Pennsylvania Index Program in more than 120 countries around the world; With the aim of coordinating between the various research centers in order to discuss issues of activating the role of think tanks in the field of policy-making and mechanisms for activating their research and field means.
