The Arab Thought Foundation is not a mere annual conference over two or three days. It is a year-round effort, 365 days of the year, and 366 days when it's leap year. The annual conference, which was held in Kuwait year, hosted by the country's people and government, shed light on the institution's activity. In attendance were high-ranking officials from Kuwait and other countries, scientists, thinkers and experts from around the world, all leaders in their fields, while the media covered every aspect of the event. The Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabbah, attended the opening of the conference, which was entitled “Integrated Arab Economy- Partners for Prosperity.” The president of the Foundation, Prince Khaled al-Faisal, said at the opening that the global economic crisis had led to an evaluation of all economic theories, and urged big countries to move from competition to understanding, in order to spur an economic rebound. Kuwait was also the host of the First Arab Economic Summit, which endorsed a number of recommendations that Arab leaders committed themselves to achieving. The second summit, in Egypt, followed up the implementation of the recommendations of the first summit. Education and young people are at the forefront of the interests of the Arab Thought Foundation. The conference in Kuwait hosted 43 young men and women, from various Arab countries, who took part in workshops, of which I attended one. I am old as three young people, with “extra change”. The education effort extends from Morocco to the Gulf, via Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and every Arab country. There were various workshops for students and several programs of cooperation with the American University of Beirut, and research with the assistance of Arab and international experts. I was given reports on the Foundation's activities that ranged between 50 pages and a few hundred pages, in addition to the Second Arab Report on Cultural Development. Since I get lost in math, I will not try to add up the pages of the various reports. I have put them all on the bathroom scale of my hotel room, and they weighed 14 kilograms. I told the secretary general, Dr. Suleiman Abdel Menhem, jokingly that they drowned us in reports, so that we would not be able to read them all and review them with their authors. The closing ceremony in Kuwait included the announcement of the Arab Creativity Awards. The Arab media, including our newspaper Al-Hayat, published the details, so I will not repeat them here. But I will say that I found myself at dinner at a table with four winners: Professor Elias Zerhouni, an American of Algerian descent, Dr. Zahra Mansouri, the author of the novel “Who Makes the Seagulls Cry,” Jassem Beshara, the chairman of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science, and Ziad al-Hamshari, who received the social innovation award on behalf of the heroes of the Palestinian village Bil‘in. Two days earlier, I was at the headquarters of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science, which is a source of Arab pride, for the awarding of its prizes. Through these two institutions, I have followed up on Arab innovators, who give us a glimmer of hope amid a sea of failure. I was happy to find among the winners Riad Salameh, the governor of Lebanon's Central Bank, who came to Kuwait accompanied by his wife, Nada. She was the star in Kuwait, as she is in Beirut and the south of France. In my own book, there is someone who is bigger than any prize, and that is the head of the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development, Abdel-Latif al-Hamad, who I heard talk about the possibility of achieving the desired Arab economic integration; he has confirmed my opinion, with the depth of his knowledge and patriotism, since we took part in the advisory board to the World Bank on the Middle East and North Africa. I have heard him debate the finest financial minds in the world, and suggest, correct, evaluate and outdo us all, with his encyclopedia-like knowledge (he is not my cousin, and might not even know me, I should note). We at the Arab Thought Foundation, from Prince Khaled al-Faisal and the members of the Board of Trustees, to the unknown soldiers of low-level employees, are trying – I will not say that we will succeed – but we are following up the attempt. This is because the alternative is not an option. While we were thinking of the topic of next year's conference, when we evaluate the effort of the first decade, I heard proposals saying that the Arab world is a source of inspiration, and I think that we inspire the rest of the world, but as how not to be. There was the suggestion of the role of the Arabs in the world and the re-working of this role. I think we have no role, after the roles in the Middle East were given to Iran, Turkey and Israel. I also heard proposals for a topic: “We are the First World.” This is possible, along with “Desperate,” and “Before It's Too Late.” This is the reality, and we will continue to work on changing it. All of the Board of Trustees members deserve thanks for their efforts, in terms of thought and funding, to make the work a success. However, today I will choose Sheikh Saleh Kamel, who arrived after having a surgery, to discuss with us with the energy of a young person. There was also Souad al-Juffali, my partner in conferences at Georgetown in Washington and Cairo, Jeddah and Beirut. She also refused to let an operation prevent her from taking part. The surgery was shared by them, by divided them, as Sheikh Saleh was comfortable if he sits, while she was comfortable while standing. However, we are all moving in the same direction.
