They posted a discussion about the blockade and begins with remarks from the ambassador to the u. S. [inaudible] [inaudible] [speaking in native language] good evening ladies and gentlemen. That deserves a round of applause. [applause] i am tony, president and ceo of the council. On behalf of the council i welcome you to tonights investor series. Were delighted that we have eight of our Board Members here tonight. We thank them for their service. Without you, these programs would not be taking place. Thank all of you very much. Many thanks for Strategic Partners at the Ronald Reagan building and International Trade center for their wonderful hospitality and providing us this beautiful venue to hold their public programs. If the early bird gets the first one, then those that got here early tonight got the first 120 seats. Theres another 80 or a hundred people downstairs in the spillover room where watching the broadcast on large screen. Were very fortunate tonight that our events are being filmed for nationwide distribution on our own television show, World Affairs today the chairs at 3 0s on the worldview channel. There also distributed globally on youtube, facebook, linkedin, twitter, and other digital platforms. In addition, tonights program is been lights for stream to u. S. And global audience will be immediately available on youtube. This also be broadcasted al jazeera. Thank you to bill mccarron, the ceo of the National Press club for providing us with his life streaming services tonight. Our event focuses on the state of qatar, its relationship with the United States and the role it plays in the persian gulf region. And the nations activities as a member of the gulf cooperation council. Qatar has been ruled by the family since the mid 19th century. The flag contains nine serrated edges that separate the colored and the white portions. They signify cutters inclusion is a ninth member of the reconciled emirates of the persian gulf at the conclusion of the qatari british treaty in 1916. The colored portion of the flake known as qatar of mindy room, also acknowledges the production of purple died. The white, of course symbolizes peace. Originally known for being a british protectorate whose economy was based mainly on pearl diving, qatar quickly made itself known to the world when it declared independence in 1971 and centralized its economy around oil and natural gas production. 1995 they announce the series of sweeping economic and political reforms. This included the funding and founding of the arab Satellite News Network al jazeera in 1996. The broadcast worldwide. An economic surplus enabled them to replay and relaunch the airways and support the founding of education. Globally recognized stateoftheart academic oasis on the outside of the capital, it host schools from the United States, britain, france and qatar. These includes our friends at Georgetown University, texas a m, carnegie mellon, cornell, virginia commonwealth, Northwestern University, and uc london. Now come in terms of transparency which we are very big on the World Affairs council, we should inform you that we have had a long and valued relationship with the state of qatar during the 38 years since our founding. The cutter foundation was the recipient of our 2014 Global Education word that was accepted on behalf of the foundation. The ambassadors have participated in our Embassy Series and investor programs and supported our annual world fairs honors Level Education gala. The population is question, anybody know . You just googled it, ruled out of bounds. It is 2 million, 258, 283 people. 11. 6 are native qataris and 88. 4 are non qataris. Bilateral relations between the United States and qatar are strong. Qatar host u. S. Military central command, we have 11000 americans deployed in qatar, and actively supports nato operations against the socalled islamic state. The United States serves as qatars largest foreign investor. In the largest source of imported goods to qatar. These include aircraft, machinery, medical instruments and agricultural products. Qatar is an active member of the un, world bank, and gulf cooperation council. It has also been selected to host the 2022 world cup, another round of applause and notes for distinguished guests. His excellency a career diplomat with only 20 years experience. He presented his credentials to President Trump on april 24, 2017. Ambassador has previously served for three years as the them best or to. He served as qatars permanent representative to the. He has chaired the Qatari Mission to be your brussels served as qatari official release onto nato. He is a graduate of american university, received his masters degree in International Relations in 2004. Tonight, im pleased to introduce another friend tour World Affairs council family. Donna, editor and managing editor of usa today is she previously served as an editor and reporter for breaking news, assignments have covered everything from domestic and international crimes, the war on terror, national disaster. Don is past president of the National Press club. Previously served as chairman of the board of governors. She serves on the board of governors for North Carolina, a Chapel Hill School of journalism and mass communications. Also on the board of the National Press foundation where we served together. Graduate of the university of North Carolina chapel hill, she has completed journalistic law school at leo lee university. The senior journalistic seminar at the Eastwest Center university of hawaii, the paul miller fellowship at the National Journalism foundation, and the casey fellowships at the university of maryland. Were deeply honored to welcome the ambassador to the World Affairs council d. C. Podium. As part of our 2017 investor series. [applause] [inaudible] good evening ladies and gentlemen. Before i begin like to thank tony the remarkable board at the First Council they did next line job organizing this event. And for their unwavering commitment to education and providing a platform for open dialogue. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have been following the news from the region, im sure youre well aware that qatar saudi arabia and the united emirates has imposed an illegal political, economic and social blockade against my country. This country decided overnight to close down all borders and airspace. Stop for food and medicine during the holy month of ramadan expel all the citizens from their country. Yet these steps were not served enough for them. They recall their citizens, turning families apart, mothers from the children, wives from their husbands. And to silence people from speaking out against the popular actions they have impose laws that threaten people with 15 year jail sentence. This is distressing. Briefly there toying with the lives of thousands of people. Im sure carpentry when instigated these inhumane and illegal actions. This all began when individuals of the united emirates decided to launch a cyber attack against a qatar news agency. During this attack, a fabricated statement was published. This fabricated statement was broadcasted in saudi and news outlets even after the rejection of the statement declaring it was false. Its crucial to note that qatar media was blocks in this countrys hours before the cyber attack. Ensuring people cannot access the truth. This carefully orchestrated cyber attack was used to justify their illegal and inhumane work against the people of qatar. Why question i have been asked since the beginning of this crisis is why. Why have they taken such measures to silence qatar. Unfortunately, the countries have never revealed the true intentions behind these actions. They have never shared their supports and concerns with us nor given us a chance to address problems they may have. Three weeks after forcing the unwanted blockade and after pressure with the United States they submitted the list of socalled demands. The 13 demands were not reasonable or actionable as the states had hoped. Instead, these would have forced them. But then freese press and free speech. Handled over you and individuals. Reduce our defense capabilities. Disregard and go against, outsource and sign an open check to the countries where they describe as compensation. They are demanding qatar build amount from their failed policies. What these countries are demanding is a surrender of our sovereignty at the price of defending. I like to draw your attention to what i believe of the two motives behind us. In a statement the saudi ambassador to jordan said two weeks ago, we have been patient, we have been patient for 21 years with a country that is smaller than a neighborhood what happened 20 years ago that has tried the patience for so long. It was in 1996 that they began its transformation. This when we decided to focus on development by investing in our own people in building a knowledgebased economy. So we have censorship and created al jazeera as a platform for free media and free speech. It is when we introduce social and political reform. Its when we empowered women, its when we decided Foreign Policy should focus on mediation rather than confrontation as a solution to challenges facing our region. As mark twain has said, there are few things harder to put up with them the noise of a good example. It is worth highlighting the transformation were effective as certain governments. A woman is saudi arabia cannot question why a qatar, a country with similar social background, women can drive, but in saudi she cannot. So aside from the shortcomings they have accused us of terrorism. These unsubstantiated actions are just a smokescreen created to infringe upon the sovereignty and independence. Our International Partners know that qatar is relentless in its fight against terrorism. We will be a steadfast partner to the United States in combating this problem in the fight against isis. Effort have. Got on recognize. The state Department Reports that the United States and qatar maintain a Strong Partnership in the fight against terrorism. After signing in mou with United States came after establishing a disabling finance flaws, signature to his tillerson prism the first to respond to President Trumps challenge. Its just as much of a threat to qatar and every other nation and that is why our resolve to fight this threat is unwavering. Tourists are made, not born. That is why we have developed holistic approach to combat terrorism and to have two bases. A military base which everyone is familiar with, but more importantly, an education base. By creating an education hub that includes some of the best american institutions from Georgetown University to Northwestern University the spread American Values we are combating the root causes of terrorism, hopelessness and lack of education. The country should remember that when they join and put the finger on qatar, Three Fingers are pointing back to them. These countries accuse us of supporting terrorism yet it was not us behind 9 11 attacks. Studies have been scrutinized by the International Community. It is those have been repeatedly listed by the state department as a country of primary concern and state department, moneylaundering and financial crimes. The destabilizing the region that a society whose under increased international and u. S. Condemnation for their attack on yemen closely 17 million it is the uv who theyve been critical of. For their destabilizing role in libya. It is egypt who has abused their current status from the u. S. Security council to put a hold on the u. S. Request to add u. S. Saudi arabia to the u. S. Sanctions list. What these countries have done is made any act a woman driving a car in saudi arabia is tried in the terrorists court. Individuals calling for social reform in the uae is a social terrorists. This is the work that needs to be done for counterterrorism in the region. The crisis will not be resolved by suppressing media and opposing viewpoints. [applause] i will start off with a few questions and then take questions from the audience. Want to start with the reasons behind the blockade. The remarks were pretense and that is what was behind it you think it was the reforms but that was 21 years ago these reforms have been under way for a long time. What do you think prompted this Immediate Reaction . Thank you very much for this question. As i mentioned in my speech, this was an attempt from me personally to try to understand the motive behind this. The only example given was by the saudi ambassador in jordan to try to understand where they are coming from. It had been there for 20 years and now what happened is obviously something had been planned for some time. We were part of the summit and we signed on the establishment of the centers. We were still puzzled on the motivations, but i tried to talk about this. It could be that they were trying to promote Mutual Understanding versus the population said they didnt get an answer. Have to thought at all about the motivations for example natural gas deal with iran which may be a threat to saudi arabia. In fact he already has more relations than we do. We share the natural gas fields so the energy going out is coming from lines of communications to understand how the relationship should be dealt with i dont think that has anything to do with [inaudible] they have more investment than we do you need to mention that this blockade is sort of undermining what the world thinks. You wrote an oped in the wall street journal and repeated some of the remarks where you mention saudi arabia role in 9 11. Its basically going to respond with a documentary that accuses fostering terrorism. Again the back and forth, the tarnishing of images in this case five countries to keep going back and forth and tarnishing one another. At what point do they cut off its remarks and is there a way you can sort of stop the public . I was just stating facts. Im not trying to tarnish any countries. What i have praised her facts. They are as you mentioned. We need to in place of anything coming up in the stories as a legitimate story. If you keep going back and forth how does it and ask what was the motivation in bringing up the role in 9 11 if not to provoke them i was by then un ambassador to portray and i wanted to remind them of what the facts are and just to state that he should think twice before accusing people in such a crime. If you could explain to us the relationship with iran can you explain a little bit about the relationship with turkey which also seems to rank with the other four countries. There is a very strong relations as other countries have strong relations we have a strategic title, so this is in the context of the gcc but also bilaterally with turkey we have close coordination with nato, and that is the context of that relation. Why do you think that relationship bothers the uae and saudi arabia and egypt and bahrain . Maybe this is a question for them to answer. Okay. So, youve have had a whole range of diplomats coming to try to mediate some diplomats from europe, secretary tellers and most recently president or. It hasnt been working out i suppose. What have you been talking about, tell us about the negotiations and what are the biggest Sticking Points . We are asking the countries to discuss their grievances but so far unfortunately they are not receptive. Weve made to the demands which were difficult for anyone to accept to show the goodwill they dismissed them and we continue to ask the mediators to try to find a way to sit on the table and discuss the differences. What do you think is the next step . Keith stated in his address they are willing to discuss so we look forward to them engaging with the United States to discuss the differences. The other day in an interview the Russian Foreign minister law lovsaid he would be in the diplomatic interference is that something they want this solved as soon as possible because it is counterproductive for everyone. We have to fight against terrorism that we need to focus on and this is affecting everyone. This was an unnecessary regression. Youve passed many laws and belong to many working groups, but the one Sticking Point some countries raise is the support of the Muslim Brotherhood which is something that has been part of the policy for many years. Can you explain to us how you see the Muslim Brotherhood and why you think that alliance is not a problem . First of all, it is not an alliance. Maybe it is good to do some Background Information for the audience. This is a perception that has been created by the uae and saudi arabia fear supporting this. We work with governments, not parties. Our support goes to the people of the country we try to support institutions in the countrys. I can give you a great example of our experience with tunisia. We worked on a component and today they continue to work when theres more liberal government so our commitment and support is for the countries at the end of the day we are dealing with governments. Tell us a bit about al jazeera and what you see about the mission in saudi arabia and egypt and bahrain find threatening about al jazeera. But he decide we decided to o promote the media. That is what we have embarked on since 1996 but they dont look at the issues that we are having in our media programs so thats where we stand on the issue. They are afraid of being criticized and i think what they want is to not have this come up with the stories regarding torture, that is what they want to suppress i believe. Im going to have to challenge you a little bit. So, Freedom House takes a look at the countries around the world and has given i would say mediocre to low marks on the press freedom. There was some legislation that was proposed in many councils. It was the criticism of the ruling family, of the government and islam so thats not what i consider to be complete press freedom. Where do you think it still needs to go . I didnt say that it is complete but i can tell you we are on the right track and working in the right direction. You took some many years to reach here. We are still litigating but it matters we are on the right path. In relation to other countries when it comes to both womens rights and press freedoms. We have a Good Development on this again to read determine their own lives, that is very important. We still need to do more work but we continue to enhance and progress our society. Moving away from the press freedom for a second i want to go back to the blockade. Can you tell me a little bit about what the humanitarian situation is . You said that they did address the people. In what ways are they suffering and what ways are you working around the blockade . The most critical aspect we have around 13,000 complaints for the separation of families. Its the lowest and acted. We have cases where we focus on the primary objective to find relief in the crisis. And warehouse help come from so far . In terms of the humanitarian . Have you gotten any Food Assistance . Weve gotten a lot of support and we are adapting and moving in the right direction. How long do you think it can sustain itself in this current state . This is a very important entity, and that is what we want to happen. We cannot resolve this problem if they do not come to the table. We are asking them to come to the table to leave their grievances and lets discuss. If there is anything based on fact we will deal with it. So turkey has moved some troops. Any time somebody moves troops anywhere, they think well what are the chances that this could become a military conflict . Is that even something that you are worried about right now or something that you are considering . Im not worried about that. What do you see as the reason for moving these truths . Is a military Cooperation Agreement in the context again turkey is a nato country. Thats part of the agreement. So you dont anticipate. I know theres a limit on the number of troops as there is a limit that can come from the u. S. Do you anticipate raising that limit as any points . Therethere is no need to rae limit. Again there is no military threat as we speak. Its pushing diplomacy for the resolution of the crisis and we are not worried about this matter. And you are not worried about the other country taking military action which one would consider . We are prepared, but that is the intention and i think we have said very clearly that we dont think they want to go that way. Can we open up to questions from the audience . There are microphones on the side if you could use those. If you could state your name and organization. This is baby off the topic at hand. I spent some time in qatar. Youve got this blockade and wonderful airline. Many of them come from elsewhere. They are so far doing fine we are in a very comfortable situation. They are family issues and now the challenge is hoping we find a solution. Is that something in negotiation right now . We need to find alternatives. Have you brought up this issue with saudi arabia and said this is a religious thing, not political. How did they respond . Spinnakers a communication. We are working with the med media. Please remember to state your name and organization. In the future will there be an opportunity regarding all this . As for qatar. In that region and plays an important role, so i dont see any outcome to the gcc. Please join us tonight for an articulate and candid discussion of the issue thats in a lot of peoples minds but given the 18 million of attack ads but we are aware of and admire the restraint and not responding in kind. We dont take sides of the conflict is traditionally. We always stand on the side of the empowerment of women with greater freedom of expression. The fact that you have prioritized those issues, one of the things that have been raised by people attacking qatar is the allegation that the money that you are putting into the reconstruction i know that hamas is the only elected government in the strip, but is there not cooperation with the israeli government, doesnt have money to go through and be coordinated in the government to the invested in the reconstruction i think theres some misunderstanding of the role that theyve played. Just going back to the ads that are running against qatar, no publicity is bad publicity. They are wrong. After 30 years in politics, thats not true. Thank you for the important questions raised. It is in the context of the peace process. We have been asked by the United States and the Bush Administration to encourage them to enter and that is what we have done being that the United States is an ally to us in the works in order to reach them in a political process. Everyone in the International Community agrees that the reconciliation has to be made because it is only fair to say that they would ask who do we discuss with of course the engagement is based on the document that was established and what we are doing is implementing this process. Again, this engagement in that piece process qatar is working but also in the west bank efforts through the reconstruction mechanism. We contribute to this and of course everything is being coordinated and we have a supervision to make sure that what we are doing in terms of housing is being delivered and not abused so that is basically our engagement to them. I am a member of the First Council. The question i have is regarding saudi arabia. Saudi arabia has a habit of invading its neighbors when they try to invade bahrain just a few years ago and now they are kneedeep, actually more than that, and yemen with the massive loss of innocent lives so given the confusion in u. S. Policy in the sense that mr. Taylors and doesnt seem to be on the same page of President Trump influence is one thing and one says something also arent you worried about they may do something unusual and cause more trouble for the country . Isnt that something to worry about . I would like to give my vision of policy i dont see any confusion in this crisis i think it was very clear in the state department that the deescalation is important and people that need to come around at the tim table to discuss the differences based on the unity of the gcc i can assure you there is no confusion on this matter. We hope that we will resolve this as quickly as possible to make sure that they focus on what is really important, fighting terrorism. Im the founder of the womens initiative. The home of attending regardless in which i work with the women and its also the home of those trafficked in the nationalities of islam for the benefit of children who were harmed as a peacemaker and a person engaged in the societies. How can the societies outside of governmental agencies and peacemakers be engaged with your quest and what tools do you give that i could take back beyond the attempt . Thank you very much for your kind comments. I think you are already helping. We appreciate all the support that the u. S. Is doing. We have support and w weakened e people are speaking up about how this aggression is not justified but we really appreciate that. Thank you very much. Im a student at new york university, and i need an honest answer. What is your response of people from egypt that has been detained by authorities who are for example prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood and what do you think of the support that was seized what are your remarks on these issues . Bc egypt as a very important country in the world. It is a stability to the region and we have supported egypt since the general took power. I can give you an example of how this has been translated. In the crisis it was a question to provide some assistance in the matter. If we have any intention an bute didnt. It is through the Financial Assistance and will continue keeping that until the terms have ended. I dont speak for al jazeera and cant tell you their coverage but as for the views that you are mentioning, im not sure that we have people that go by the Egyptian Government and if you are mentioning individuals running away from unfair persecutions and seeking asylum, that is a different discussion we have to have. There are International Laws and regulations. We will continue to support egypt and every arab country. Thank you for coming and speaking with us. I would like to ask a question about the impact of the u. S. Policy on the current qatar crisis. Saudi arabia instead impose a blockade after the visit to the country. Furthermore after it was imposed President Trump took to twitter and said saudi arabia said they would take a har a hardline on n funding extremism and appointed to qatar. Do you think tha they had any et on the Security Council imposing this blockade . Can you tell us your name please click [inaudible] the policy is clear when it comes to the crisis. I dont think that the policy is intending to create a crisis. We need to negotiate [inaudible] how does the Current Situation affect the strategy with regards to the coalition and its caused the worst humanitarian crisis in the wor world. It was the subject only to defend the saudi borders so we dont have any troops down the there. Prior to the decision to cut diplomatic ties. On the same day they asked the troops to leave. We have a few more minutes so if anyone has questions you have a few more minutes to ask in the meantime i have plenty. If theres any journalists in the room who want to know a question feel free to do so. I would like to ask a few questions about the economy, so beyond this crisis what do you see as the future Economic Growth areas and expansion in the initiatives in education and energy . The fact that we have invited universities from the u. S. To help fight extremist ideology and also empower the youth to become entrepreneurs and we want to diversify the economy and to step away from gas and oil and this is something in the long run is achievable so this is where we are focusing. You do rely quite a bit on the laborers from other countries. How are you working towards full employment for countries in door country and there have been some allegations that the workers on this underpaid and mistreated. First i would like to say we are grateful for those that come to qatar and help us develop. Its something we highly appreciate and true we did have challenges in the past regarding labor laws but it was due to the huge influx we were not able to adapt immediately that we have managed to identify the challenges and work on them and fix the walls of concrete steps on the ground. We will continue to work on having a better environment and also this is something that will be ongoing for us. Do you have issues with what we call brain drain in this country, going to pretend to get educated and not coming back . I dont think we have this but most of the gender students stay for a couple of years for example in the United States or europe to gain experience. Tell me a little about your plan. We are excited in the world cup will be in our region and the way we look at this is not only for qatar but the middle east. We have so many conflicts that at some point this could give new hope because sports bring people together and that is our objective. We will do our best to host the world cup. One of the issues that has happened in the past is israelis have been barred from countries in the middle east for sporting events. Theres definitely religious freedom issues. How do you plan to deal with without and what path do you see allowing religious freedom in qatar for christians and jews . Theres a greater tolerance for people of other faiths. We have free churches to practice religion there is a tolerance for other religions. We dont forget that and have Great Respect for christianity and judaism in the muslim is the third phase, so that will no tht be a problem for people that want to come to qatar. And what about for the israeli athletes click israel as par is part of thed nations and we have hosted many games before and they were not stand so i dont see why they would be in the future. Okay, excellent. Thank you for your time. We appreciate your answers to questions and and enlightening us. I hope that it was useful insight. [applause] a reputation for an organization where learning happens i hope you all feel that the ambassador and the decisive question posed by the members and by donna was well worth your time in terms of coming here to be part of our celebration of