| Greetings,
Welcome and Thank You
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
It is my pleasure and honour to welcome
you to the conference. In these global and
too often troubled times, we need new perspectives
and models so that we can find humane answers
to the challenge of globalization, based
on a profound respect for the diversity
of cultures and religions in our world community.
As global events demonstrate, there is a
desperate need to reintroduce spirituality,
ethics, morality and faith into the debate
on globalization.
Looking at the conference programme, without
doubt and hesitation, we can see that our
accomplished speakers have risen well to
this challenge. The conference is truly
privileged to have speakers of this calibre,
sharing their views with us. Without them
there would have been no conference, and
with them, I hope we can travel together
to mend the troubled and torn cultures of
our time and pave the way to global justice,
peace, harmony and healing. I wish to express
the conference’s respect and sincere
gratitude to each of our presenters for
their extraordinary commitment in being
a part of this vital effort by giving their
time and expertise freely. Each one of our
speakers brings a missing and essential
piece that completes the process, leading
to a better understanding of what globalization
is all about. Hopefully, together, we can
clearly argue for and insist on social and
economic alternatives that address the roots
of global injustice and inhumanity.
I am also grateful to and thank all the
conference delegates who have come from
near and far to be with us. It is wonderful
for academics and non-academics to get involved
and engaged with one another, so that we
can all share each other’s varied
experiences. All of us must be given a voice
to be heard.
I would also like to thank my co-convenor,
Dr. Raymond Hamden. Without his support,
love and hard work there would not have
been a conference in this vitally important
region of the world. Raymond has cheerfully,
with much spirituality, given much to make
this possible and for this I convey my gratitude
to him and all his staff at the Comprehensive
Medical Centre in Dubai. It was during my
second visit to Dubai in November 2003 that
I met Mr. Abbas Bolurfrushan, President,
Iranian Business Council (IBC) of Dubai.
Abbas has proved to be a formidable friend
and a great supporter of Globalization for
the Common Good and a source of inspiration
to me. At this point I would like to thank
him, the Iranian Business Council and all
the members of its Board of Directors, in
particular Mr. Nasser Hashempour for organising
and sponsoring a special session, Iran and
Globalization for the Common Good on the
evening of 28th March(see further the programme).
I want to also pay a special tribute to
another good friend of Globalization for
the Common Good, Mr. Brian LaBelle, Vice
President, Skywards at Emirates Airlines
and Chairman, Canadian Business Council,
Dubai. As some of you may know the Honourable
Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, the former Canadian
Foreign Minister had kindly accepted our
invitation to deliver a keynote address
at the conference in Dubai. However, in
January 2004 Dr. Axworthy was appointed
by the United Nations Secretary General
as his Special Envoy for the two Horn of
Africa countries, namely Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Given the urgency of what needs to be done
there, Dr. Axworthy with great regret had
to cancel his participation at the conference
at the last moment so that he can devote
all his time to much needed peace work there.
Although I was very disappointed that Dr.
Axworthy could not join us, I know that
his work in the Horn of Africa is a true
example of common good in action and I am
sure you will all join me in wishing him
good luck. Brian LaBelle was instrumental
in facilitating and sponsoring Dr. Axworthy
as well as Mr. David Choi, President and
CEO, Royal Pacific Group and Special Advisor
to Dr. Axworthy to come to Dubai. Here I
would like to extend my sincere gratitude
to Brian and all his colleagues at Emirates
Skywards and the Canadian Business Council,
and also at Lufthansa Airlines.
It is also necessary to thank the Sikh
community in UAE for their generous hospitality
by inviting the conference to attend their
Gurudwara in Dubai on the evening of Friday
26th March. They have arranged for hundreds
of their fellow Sikhs to travel to Dubai
to be with us during our visit (for more
details see the programme). I would now
like to thank Ms. Priya Sridharan, our conference
secretary. I am sure you agree that she
has worked very hard, diligently and efficiently.
Special thank is also due to the Rotana
Hotel Group in Dubai for so cheerfully assisting
us with all that we have required. I am
sure, knowing their standards well, you
will all have a very good and welcoming
time here
Kamran Mofid
Conference Founder Convenor
|
List of Speakers
Dr. Maher Abu Munshar
Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic
Studies, Dundee, Scotland, UK.
Dr. Yousif Asfour
Chair, Department of Information Technology,
American University of Dubai, UAE.
Professor Hooshang Amirahmadi
Director, Middle East Centre, Rutgers University,
USA and President, American-Iranian Council,
USA.
Dr. Josef Boehle,
Research Fellow, Department of Theology,
University of Birmingham, UK.
Agnetta Borgman
Research Social Worker, Dubai, UAE.
Rev. Michael Bos
Director, Al Amana Centre, Sultanate of
Oman.
Dr. David Coleman
Associate Professor of Religion, Chaminade
University of Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
Professor Suleman Dangor
Professor of Islamic Studies, University
of Durban-Westville, South Africa.
Ann-Katrin Elis
Post-graduate student, Geography, Heinrich-Heine
University, Duesseldorf, Germany.
Mag. Markus Glatz-Schmallegger
Senior researcher, Catholic Social Academy
of Austria (ksoe), Vienna, Austria.
Wayne Green
Founder-Proprietor, Global-Affairs.co.uk
Najdia Diane Hamden
Leadership programmes, USA.
Dr. Raymond Hamden
Director, Comprehensive Medical Centre,
Dubai, UAE and the Co-Convenor of the conference.
Dr. Christopher Houghton Budd
Director, Centre for Associative Economics,
Canterbury, UK.
Hazar Ibdah
Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, American University of Sharjah,
UAE. Iranian Business Council (I.B.C), Dubai.
H.E. Dr. Ahmad Jalali
President of 31st UNESCO General Assembly
(2001 – 2003) and President of the
World Heritage General Assembly.
Dr. Judith Jensen
Director, Educational Solutions, Oregon
Institute of Technology-Office of the Assistant
Provost, USA.
Dr. George Katodrytis
Assistant Professor of Architecture, American
University of Sharjah, UAE.
Jim Kenney
Executive Director, Interreligious Engagement
Project(USA) and Co-Editor, Interreligious
Insight: A Journal of Dialogue and Engagement.
Dr. Kathleen Kevany
University of Western Ontario, Canada and
United Nations University, Japan.
Fazlun Khalid
Founder Director, Islamic Foundation for
Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Birmingham,
UK.
Dr. Mahmood Khalil
Head, College of Sakhnin for Teacher Education,
Israel.
Audrey Kitagawa
Advisor, Office of the Special Representative
of the Secretary General for Children and
Armed Conflict, United Nations, UN, New
York, USA.
Rev. Dr. William Lesher
President emeritus of the Lutheran School
of Theology, Chicago and the Chair of the
Board of Trustees of the Council for a Parliament
of the World’s Religions.
Mandana Manoochehri
Iranian Business Council, Dubai.
Bernard Margeuritte
President, The International Communications
Forum, Paris, France.
Sr. Beatrice Mariotti
Headmistress, St. Mary’s Catholic
High School, Dubai, UAE.
Professor Fr. Peter Milward SJ
Emeritus Professor and Director, Renaissance
Institute, Sofia University, Japan.
Dr. Kamran Mofid
Founder Convenor, An Inter-faith Perspective
on Globalization for the Common Good.
Dr. Athar Murtuza
Seton Hall University, USA.
Ali Owliaei
Senior Consultant, Crisis and Conflict,
and a Managing Partner, Office for Project
Development and Strategic Planning, Tehran,
Iran.
Rev. Alan Race
Rector, St. Andrews Church, Leicester, UK
and Editor-in-Chief, Interreligious Insight:
a Journal of Dialogue and Engagement.
Robert Radin
Businessman & Social Activist, Calafornia,
USA.
Jane Samuels
Cultural Development Consultant, UK.
Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh
Chairman, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha,
Birmingham, UK.
Jeffery Smith
Editor, The Geonomist and President, Forum
on Geonomics, USA.
Dr. Yehuda Stolov
Director, The Interfaith Encounter Association,
Israel.
Professor Tara Stuart
Professor of Education, Keene State College,
USA.
Professor Toh Swee-Hin
Director, Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith University,
Australia.
Jakob von Uexkull
Founder and Chairman, The Right Livelihood
Awards, London and Co-ordinator, The World
Future Council Initiative.
Dr. Marie France Waxin
Professor Adjoint, HEC Montreal, Canada.
Annick de Witt
Social Environmental Sciences, University
of Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Dr. Lawrence Woods
Associate Professor of Political Science
and International Studies, American University
of Sharjah, UAE.
Ambassador Ali Yihya
Special Advisor – Middle East &
the Peace Process Department, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Israel.
|
