Al-Jisr steering committee meets in Brussels

The second meeting of the steering committee of the EU-supported al-Jisr project on "Public Diplomacy and Outreach devoted to the European Union and EU-GCC Relations" took place in Brussels on July 13. The members of the steering committee reviewed the activities that had been conducted in the last twelve months.

The objectives of the al-Jisr project include the enhancement of public and professional understanding of the EU, its policies and institutions in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a strengthening of the debates about EU-Gulf relations and a contribution to foster closer links between the two regions.

Against this background a multitude of different activities has been pursued in the first year of the project. Among other things, various workshops were organised, e.g. on EU-GCC cooperation in higher education and research, on the challenges and prospects for EU-GCC relations under the Swedish EU presidency and on EU and the GCC cooperation on energy and environmental issues. In addition to that, al-Jisr conducted training workshops for Arab diplomats and started with the translation of books about Europe and the European Union into Arabic. A research component of al-Jisr investigates prospects and challenges for economic growth and diversification in the GCC countries. Project publications on topics such as higher education or energy are available on the al-Jisr website.

The steering committee finalized the agenda for the second year of al-Jisr and presented the project and its findings to representatives of the EU member states in the European Council. Moreover, also the GCC Ambassador to the European Union, Amal al-Hamad, invited the steering committee to discuss the project with her.

The al-Jisr steering committee members meet with the GCC Ambassador. Left to right: Saad al-Ammar (Institute for Diplomatic Studies), Michael Bauer (C.A.P.), Ana Echagüe (FRIDE), Giacomo Luciani (GRC), Philipp Oliver Gross (European Commission), Amal al-Hamad (Ambassador of the GCC), Christian Koch (GRC), Abdelaziz al-Uwaisheq (GCC) Jasmin Ruhnke (Bertelsmann), Christin-Peter Hanelt (Bertelsmann)