17th Doha Forum Concludes
In a speech at the closing session of the Forum, HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi said that the international and regional participation and the speeches delivered by the Heads of State and Government, politicians, opinion leaders and intellectuals as well as businessmen, parliamentarians and representatives of regional and international organizations and international community have provided an ideal opportunity for constructive dialogue as well as exchange of ideas and ideas to achieve the desired goals.
The selection of the theme of the 17th Doha Forum "Development, Stability and Refugee Crisis" has many important implications as these issues are among the most important challenges facing the world today, he said.
His Excellency stressed that holding the Doha Forum on a regular basis since its first session in 2000 until now reflects the vision of the wise leadership of the State of Qatar and contributes to the consolidation of the concepts of meaningful dialogue, constructive thinking and constant striving to find solutions to the problems and challenges facing the countries of the region and the world at large.
He pointed out that the Forum's discussions that took place over two days proved that the problems of the world today do not know any borders, and that the challenges have become global and they do not pose a threat to those who face them only or to countries they suffer from, but the whole world is suffering and has suffered from them.
At the forefront of these problems and the serious challenges facing the world today was the lack of development and instability in many regions of the world and the refugee issue, His Excellency added.
HE Al Muraikhi added that the participants' deliberations proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the asylum situation today is not as it was yesterday, and it is clear that the whole world is facing a major humanitarian disaster that requires finding all means to address it.
HE the Minister stressed the need for the international community to shoulder its legal and moral responsibility and to work seriously towards stopping wars and conflicts that cause the crisis by all political and peaceful means, finding just and lasting solutions to the issues of peoples, helping refugees wherever they are, alleviating their suffering and providing housing, food, education and health care to them, in addition to working on refugee resettlement in their countries and real participation in the reconstruction and stability of each country that its people was forced to asylum and its homeland was destroyed because of wars and conflicts.
He pointed out that the success of development depends on the stability of societies. Stability is the cornerstone and the framework that protect the development process, he said, pointing out at the same time that terrorism and extremism can not be eliminated without achieving sustainable development.
HE the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs affirmed that all the Forum's recommendations and ideas will help in finding ways and means to address the issues of the humanitarian community, adding that everyone has the responsibility to make use of these visions and solutions to achieve world development and stability and to contribute to building world peace, reducing refugee flows and alleviating their suffering.
HE the Prime Minister of Finland Juha Sipila addressed the closing session of the Forum stressing the need for the world to respond to the refugees crisis and its consequent humanitarian needs. He pointed out that Europe did not deal with this issue in an interactive manner and that it should change the way they of handling it.
He also called for thoroughly studying the causes of migration and asylum and for looking into their causes before thinking about managing the crisis and dealing with its figures.
He pointed out that most of the refugees' problems are man-made. He stressed that tackling refugees crisis can only be through adopting the approach of good governance and rule of law, realizing social justice, peaceful resolution of crises and conflicts to achieve development and sustainable peace, with the involvement of all stakeholders in the peace process.
For his part Vice President of Brookings Center in the US Martin Indyk extended thanks to the State of Qatar for succeeding in organizing forum for the past 17 years.
In his speech at the closing session of the Doha Form, Martin Indyk expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which the United States deals with the Refugees crisis in the world, calling upon all parties in this regard to fulfill their humanitarian obligations towards the refugees.
He reviewed the great challenges posed by the refugees crisis. Pointing to the prevailing assumption that refugees represent significant economic, security and social burden on the hosting countries Martin Indyk saw that some neighboring countries receiving Syrian refugees were not affected by their flow.
He noted that one of the challenges posed by the refugees crisis is enabling refugees to become involved in new societies by working to contribute to the economy of their hosting countries.
In its 17th edition Doha Forum discussed four main themes, these are "the Changing Global Political Landscape", "Global Trends and Challenges for Economic Development and Investment - Oil and Energy Issues", "Political and Economic Impact of Refugee Crisis" and "the Legal and Humanitarian Dimensions of Dealing with the Refugee Crisis".
The high-profile participation of leaders, politicians, specialists, academics and civil society organizations at the 17th. edition of the Forum was an ideal opportunity for fruitful discussion of the Forum's themes.
The title of this edition "Development, Stability and Refugee Crisis" reflects the importance of urgent issues, especially that the armed conflicts, terrorism, extremism, poverty and unemployment, taking place in the region and the world, require everyone to deeply discuss the causes of these issues in order to achieve the aspirations of peoples for development, stability, justice and human peace.
The first edition of the Doha Forum was held in 2001 in preparation for the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Doha in November of the same year. Then it was held under the title Qatar-US Conference on Democracy and Free Trade.