| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| Embrace True Reform, Gulf States Told |
| 2004-05-15 |
| Gulf Arab states must embrace real political, economic and democratic reforms before they are imposed by external pressure, speakers at a conference here on âThe Region and the Futureâ said yesterday. Political reform in the Middle East can only be achieved from within, with the cooperation of the countries involved, Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah said at the opening of the meeting organized by Kuwaitâs Parliament. He urged Western nations seeking to inspire sweeping reform in the region to first take a more aggressive stance in helping to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as the Iraq crisis. Sheikh Sabah also said Iran should play a greater regional role. Officials and academics discussed at the two-day symposium the future of the region in light of US initiatives to bring democracy, better human rights and economic reform to the Middle East. Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad ibn Jassem, who was the key speaker at the opening session which tackled Gulf-West relations, said countries in the region have to âreally believeâ in reform, which must be tailored to their own needs. He called on the GCC states to initiate such reforms before they are imposed from outside, saying that if âwe did so, we will gain respect from the West and the rest of the world.â âThis is a very huge wave. It will not go away before each country does what is required in terms of real reforms. We must satisfy our people too,â Sheikh Hamad said. âGiving up attempts to impose reform and change from the outside is the beginning of implementing the hoped for reforms from the inside,â Sheikh Sabah said. |
| Posted by:Fred |