Remarks by the President

Remarks of Ambassador Hussein Hammami, President of the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy at the opening ceremony of the International Conference "Global Common Challenges and Regional Trends – the Arab World in Times of Change" held in Amman on 3rd and 4th November 2007. The conference was organized by the Regional Center on Conflict Prevention of the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy with the cooperation of the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation.

It is a great honour to welcome you today to this international conference on Global Challenges and Regional Trends on behalf of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Regional Centre on Conflict Prevention of the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy.

The organization of this conference jointly by the Regional Centre on Conflict Prevention and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation is one instance of the ongoing cooperative relationship between the Foundation and the Institute. It is a relationship that we at the Institute and the Centre are keen to preserve and to develop in the future as our contribution to the various areas of cooperation that bind Jordan and Germany.

This region has lived with many conflicts during the past century and continues to do so. It is because these conflicts have sapped the limited resources of the countries involved that they must be faced squarely and resolved. Yet, the young generations which represent the majority of the peoples of this Arab region cannot put their hopes and aspirations on hold if those conflicts continue to fester.

We aspire at this distinguished meeting to address the issues that most concern these young generations. These are the issues of regional development and they will be addressed in a holistic manner - from the perspective of education, economic interdependence, energy, as well as climate change. Failure must not be an option. The Arab region must seek its own response to the challenges of integration into the global market place. We must not allow ourselves to be mere spectators but must seek to become part of the solution to the problems that face our world.