Wednesday 11 November 2020
The 8th NDC Course 2020-2021 participated virtually from 9-11/11/2020 in the 7th Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate 2020 held this year under the theme "Deciphering the Hyper-Real: The New World Order" organized by the Emirates Policy Center, with the participation of leading decision makers and policy experts around the world.
The first day activities began with the opening speech by Dr. Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. The speech was followed by virtual sessions held by a group of distinguished experts. The debate discussed on the first day the U.S. elections and their consequences on the World Order and the Middle East issues. The second day activities discussed the UAE-Israel Peace Treaty for the New Middle East and its role in the geopolitical reconsiderations in the Gulf and the potential outcomes of the treaty in promoting prosperity, development, and progress in the Middle East. The second day activities were attended by prominent politicians such as Ambassador Brian Hawke, the Special adviser to the U.S. President for the Abraham Accords, Ambassador Alon Ushpiz, and Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khalifa Shaheen Al-Murr, and the UAE Assistant Minster of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Political Affairs. The event was attended also by experts such as Major General (retd.) Amos Yadlin, Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), and Dr. Sheikh Abdullah bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, Chairman of the Bahrain Board of Trustees of the Bahrain Center for Strategic and International and Energy Studies, Dr. Albadr Al-Shateri , a former professor at the UAE National Defence College, Dr. Omar Tash Pinar, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, and Alex Vatanka , the Director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.
It should be noted that Dr. Ibtisam Al Kutbi, President of the Emirates Policy Center, had explained that the sessions of this year's debate will be run via Zoom application via the social networks of the Emirates Policy Center to deliver it to the widest range of interested politicians, researchers and intellectuals.