On the sixth of June, the VIII International Seminar organized by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of FPSC (CEMOFPSC) was held at Casa Árabe in Madrid. The Seminar had the title “The Arab Spring: The conflict in Syria. Current status and consequences”.
During the different sessions of the seminar an analysis of the Syrian conflict was carried out by the experts engaged in the field of the Middle East. During the seminar different issues were addressed such as the internationalization of the conflict due to the strategic position of Syria in the Middle East and worldwide, as well as the situation of the Syrian refugees. The study of the current situation in Syria helps to understand more about the problems that Syria is facing today and to develop solutions to solve the actual problems.
The opening ceremony of the seminar was chaired by Ms. Olivia Orozco, the Formation, Economy and Governance Coordinator of Casa Árabe; Mr. Javier Goizueta, CEO of Volunteering and Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Social Affairs for the Community of Madrid; Mr. Pedro Lopez Aguirrebengoa, the Ambassador of Spain; Mr. Nadim Shehadi, Investigator at Chatham House, visiting professor at St Anthony’s College (Oxford) and Advisory Committee member of the CEMOFPSC; and Ms. Pilar Lara, President of the Foundation for the Social Promotion of Culture.
The first session entitled “Current status on war in Syria” was attended by Mr. Salam Kawakibi, of the Research Center for Arab Reform Initiative (ARI) in Syria, and Mr. Pedro Lopez Aguirrebengoa, the Ambassador of Spain. The session was moderated by Mr. Karim Hauser, The Head of the Casa Árabe Governance.
The second session was dedicated to the theme “Regional Impact, security and the refugees”. The participants of the second session were Mr. Youssef El-Khalil, Executive Director of Financial Operations Department of the Bank of Lebanon and the President of Association for the Development of Rural Capacities (ADR); Ms. Amani Salah, the regional head of the UN office for the Coordination of the Humanitarian Aid to Syria (OCHA) in Jordan; Mr. Ramon Ansoain, the Ambassador of Spain and the Spanish Presidency Coordinator of the Advisory Committee,UNRWA; and Ms. Jumana Trad, Trustee of the FPSC and the Executive Committee Member of CEMOPFSC who also acted as a moderator of the second session.
Ms. Hala Mustafa, Journalist of Al Ahram and previous head editor of the Democracy Review Jornal, in Egypt; Mr. Nadim Shehadi, the Investigator at Chatham House, visiting professor at St Antony’s College (Oxford) and the member of the Advisory Committee of CEMOFPSC; and Mr. Isaac Martin-Barbero, the General Director of the Internationalization of the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX), of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Mr. Martin-Barbero was in charge of moderating the third session in which the roles of Spain, the Arab countries and the European countries in general were discussed.
After each speaker had the opportunity to give their own opinion on the current situation, a debate was initiated to discuss the addressed issues. After the debate, the moderator gave a summary of the seminar and a reading of the conclusions.