Schiller Institute Representative Participates in Major China-Arab World Conference
July 11, 2020 (EIRNS)—Schiller Institute Southwest Asia Coordinator Hussein Askary addressed a high-level China-Arab webinar organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) held yesterday. The event’s title was “International Webinar: China-MENA Cooperation Under the COVID-19: Traditional Friendship & Common Future” (MENA = Middle East and North Africa). The speakers included the top leadership of the CASS. Keynote speakers were Prince Turki bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (Chairman of King Faisal Foundation’s Center for Research and Islamic Studies, former Saudi Ambassador to London and Washington, and former Director of Saudi Intelligence), and former Prime Minister of Egypt Essam Sharaf. Several former Arab Ambassadors to Egypt and Chinese ambassadors and envoys to the MENA region also spoke at the webinar, followed by academicians from both China and the Arab countries. The webinar came just a week after the China-Arab Ninth Ministerial Meeting Chaired by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Most of the Arab academicians were from the United Arab Emirates Al-Sharjah University.
All speakers agreed on the importance of China-Arab cooperation to both combat the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve economic development, peace, and stability in the region. Cooperation between the U.S. and China in the Middle East was called for by some speakers, including Askary and an American professor at the National Defense College in the U.A.E.
Askary opened his speech with a reference to the vision developed over the past three decades by “the great American economist” Lyndon LaRouche, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, and associates in the Schiller Institute, a vision which has now evolved into the World Land-Bridge. Askary showed a map of the World Land-Bridge, stating that it is necessary to bring the Americas and the United States into this vision. He praised the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative by President Xi Jinping as “a turning point in world history.”
Askary referred to the massive potential for development through peaceful economic development in West Asia and Africa. Since the theme was Chinese-Arab cooperation against and post-COVID-19 pandemic, Askary brought up the “correlation” between infrastructure development and creating a global health-care system, drawing from speeches by Xi and World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom, a report by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and concluding with the recent study conducted by the Schiller Institute on creating a global health-care system.
Askary showed the participants copies of the Schiller Institute reports on the New Silk Road in both Arabic and English, offering to send copies as gifts.
