Doha and the Gulf.

(From Arabies Trends)

Why did Qatar choose to host the recent conference on democracy and free trade?

Here at the Qatari embassy in Paris, we are in charge of several international conferences that are held in Doha. Our first conference is on relations between the US and the Islamic world, which is organized with the Brookings Institute. The second is on democracy and free trade. The third is on dialogue between Christians and Muslims. In April, we had a conference on the transformation of NATO and security in the Gulf. We are planning to hold a regional summit of the Islamic world in Doha next year.

Why does Qatar have all these conferences? They come in the context of our diplomacy and the desire of His Highness to contribute to the development of the region. What are we expecting from these conferences? To tackle issues such as democracy, dialogue of civilizations and religion. And I think the result so far has been positive. I think that we are going in the right direction.

Is the idea behind the conference on democracy, for instance, to have a debate or to reach a consensus?

The objective is to create a debate, to brainstorm ideas that are being discussed in the region - like the role of government and democracy, the role of women, education, how we can enhance education to contribute to the development of the region, how we can create a healthy dialogue between our region and other regions, our religion and other religions, our people and other peoples.

Are there conflicting points of view on the development of democracy?