Today's Edition
By Dr. Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ali*
TRENDS Research & Advisory has embarked on a new research tour to one of its most important global destinations, aimed at promoting international dialogue and research cooperation on global knowledge, and in areas such as advanced technology, artificial intelligence, innovation, and sustainability.
As part of this mission, TRENDS is participating in the Paris International Book Fair for the second consecutive year, showcasing hundreds of publications in various languages, and engaging with intellectual, academic, research, and political elites in the French capital on ways to address current strategic challenges while adopting a forward-looking, analytical approach to the future.
Think-tanks play a crucial role in advancing research quality, ideas, and proposals through rigorous research and analysis while maintaining open dialogue with experts and specialists. They enhance their capacity to develop solutions and scenarios for addressing challenges, providing policymakers and decision-makers with the insights they need. This stems from TRENDS' belief that some of their core roles are to support international dialogue, shape future outlook, providing policymakers with projects, ideas, and developmental visions, address challenges, foster dialogue within academics and advance global research collaboration.
At its pavilion in Paris, TRENDS is adding to its diverse publications a new series of books in French and English, including "Applying Training and Simulation Models in Cybersecurity" by Dr. Mohammed Hamad Al Kuwaiti, Head of the UAE Government Cyber Security Council; the Arabic and English editions of "Money for Terrorism" by French Senator Nathalie Goulet; and a study titled "The Paradigm of "Integral Islam" in Prescriptive Religious Discourse" by French historian Dominique Avon.
One of highlights of the European tour is an upcoming seminar organised by TRENDS at the Luxembourg Palace, the seat of the French Senate. This is the second time that the phenomenon of terrorism will be discussed with TRENDS' participation in this key platform within French political and constitutional institutions.
It reflects a growing political awareness and the importance of involving parliamentarians in discussions on this critical global issue. Another highly significant seminar focuses on "Political Islam Movements," with particular emphasis on the Muslim Brotherhood and its connection to separatist tendencies in Europe.
This topic offers vital common ground for debate about the separatist ideology of these groups and its impact on the security of European peoples and nations, amid a growing mutual understanding that the threat posed by these groups extends beyond Arab and Islamic countries.
On the sidelines in Paris, discussions are taking place with opinion leaders, politicians, and experts in French society such as Bruno Fuchs, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the French National Assembly, and Yonathan Arfi, President of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF).
These dialogues address major crises and extremism challenges while exploring avenues for cooperation to combat terrorist groups and movements. These groups represent a grave threat to international security and peace to achieve their malicious goals, regardless of the devastating consequences on nations, institutions, and individuals.
Effectively confronting extremism demands extensive, collective efforts by research and academic institutions to dismantle the ideologies and narratives of such movements, coupled with sustainable international cooperation, especially between the Middle East and North Africa region and their French and European counterparts.
This should be pursued through research, analysis, and investigations into funding sources and the global networks supporting these organisations, while also anticipating how to dismantle destructive groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. The objective is to unify international efforts to confront these organisations through closer regional-European collaboration.
Research collaboration offers a valuable platform for exchanging expertise and disseminating specialised publications tackling the issue of Islamism and its impact on the Middle East and North Africa region, Europe, and the world at large. This helps provide decision-makers and specialists with accurate data and solid studies to inform their response mechanisms, raise public awareness about the dangers of extremist ideologies, and highlight the values of tolerance and peaceful coexistence among peoples and societies. It also affirms our ability as human beings to engage in dialogue, fostering societies that embrace diversity and coexist peacefully, enabling nations to thrive in unity and harmony.
TRENDS is achieving this balance in Paris by engaging with experts and academics on international relations between France, Europe, and the MENA countries, fostering intercultural communication and addressing ways to counter extremism. It continues to raise pressing issues as part of its global tour – which will soon extend to North and South America – to exchange ideas on international challenges, and expand academic and research partnerships. Scientific research remains a powerful tool in offering sustainable solutions for global issues.
*The writer is the CEO of TRENDS Research & Advisory
