Evaluation of the Amadeus Institute’s trip to the U.S.
This week, the Amadeus Institute met with the most prestigious American think tanks based in New York and Washington. Representatives of the Institute also visited several universities that are renowned for their expertise in international relations. Additionally, the Amadeus team met American leaders and UN officials to exchange views and to project the voice of the South across the Atlantic.
It was an opportunity for the president of the Amadeus Institute, Brahim Fassi Fihri, and Vice-President, Mekki Lahlou, to contact their counterparts across the Atlantic and to spread the word about the achievements Morocco has accomplished under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI. These achievements include the consolidation of democracy and human rights as well as major projects initiated by His Majesty in the economic, social and cultural fields. It was an opportunity to highlight the Institution’s concerns, but also to explore exchange possibilities in terms of ideas and expertise, which they pointed out to the MAP last Monday at the end of their one-week trip.
Discussions were fruitful with all our partners: the Brookings Institute, the Middle East Institute, the Atlantic Council and the Centre of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), all of which are based in Washington. The representatives of the Amadeus Institute also spoke with partners at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Columbia and New York University, the State Department, the United Nations headquarters and Human Rights Watch (HRW). They suggested prospects of cooperation in the future. The Amadeus Institute does not pretend to compete with these great ideas shapers. Some account for a century of experience. We seek simply to benefit from their knowledge and expertise, and to invite them to the MEDays, the salient annual event of the Amadeus Institute.
Major issues in the South "The main objective of our trip to the U.S., which will be soon followed by another one in Africa, is to show that there is now an independent think tank in Morocco. Though very young, it may boast that in its two years of existence, it has achieved concrete results. It aims at addressing global issues with a focus on the major problems confronting Southern countries,” say the officials of Amadeus. Another goal of the trip is "to broaden our sphere of influence,” they revealed. After dealing with governance in the Maghreb, the Union for the Mediterranean, co-development and South-South cooperation, "we hope to institutionalise, on an annual basis, a ‘talk’ on the Middle East in Tangier.”
In fact, they insist, "our youthfulness is also our strength, because we dare to discuss hot issues that others would avoid or evoke timidly.” Officials of the Amadeus Institute "want to fill a void by becoming an independent platform for discussions between Palestinians and Israelis,” they said. They added that this represents just one axis out of the thirty other themes the Institute discusses. Another goal for this think tank is to have international experts “collaborate on issues discussed at MEDays and at the Amadeus Institute, in order to deepen our thoughts and help us in developing and supervising the themes. In return, we have a large network they can use to their advantage in order to fine-tune their research and analysis related to the MENA region and Africa in general.” Those the representatives from Amadeus met with realised from the Institute’s achievements that "we are a credible body and that an exchange would be mutually beneficial.” Not wanting to be considered as a second Davos, Amadeus has an ambition to be a platform for effective decisions with concrete results for South-South and North-South projects.
The important point now for the young leadership of the first independent think tank in the Maghreb is not only to prepare the forthcoming 3As (Asia-Africa-Arab World) forum, but also to make the fifteen 2009 MEDays recommendations known to their various partners. Moreover, they were pleased that during a meeting with the State Department, officials noted the freedom that prevails in MEDays debates, and the active role that the Amadeus Institute plays in economic integration in the Maghreb.
This platform of reflection, which is open to the public and fills a void in the southern shore of the Mediterranean, is primarily oriented towards finding practical solutions to the problems facing the Euro-Mediterranean and Euro-African worlds today.
MAP
