U.S.-Islamic World Forums

The Brookings Institution

U.S.-Islamic World Forums

Doha, Qatar, and Washington, D.C.

The 2012 U.S.-Islamic World Forum will take place in Doha, Qatar, on May 29-31. The emphasis for this year’s forum is the challenge of change, and it will feature plenaries on social, political, and strategic transformations in the Muslim world. Policy makers and officials, thought leaders and activists, and entrepreneurs and journalists will meet during sessions to facilitate productive dialogue concerning problems faced in U.S. relations with the Islamic world. Webcasts of sessions during the forum can be found here, along with new information on speakers and forum events. Please follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube for further updates.

The U.S.-Islamic World Forum is designed to bring together leaders in the realms of politics, business, media, academia, and civil society from across the Islamic world (including Muslim communities in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East) and the United States. The forum seeks to serve as both a convening body and catalyst for positive action. Therefore, its focus is not on dialogue just for dialogue's sake, but on developing actionable agendas for government, civil society, and the private sector.

The forum was launched in the wake of the September 11th attacks. Its goal was the development of research and outreach programs designed to improve U.S. relations with Muslim states and communities. A particular challenge in that moment of tension and frustration was the virtual absence of dialogue between leaders of the United States and the Muslim world. With the generous support of the Government of Qatar, the Brookings Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World launched the first U.S.-Islamic World Forum in 2004. The purpose was to promote a better understanding of the problems involved in U.S. relations with the Islamic world, through the creation of an ongoing and collaborative dialogue between Muslim and American leaders.

The forum’s renown has grown in the intervening years. Today it is recognized as the premier annual conference of its kind. Past participants have included President Bill Clinton; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey; Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan; Commander of the U.S. Central Command David Petraeus; the Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina Dr. Mustafa Ceric; Secretary General of ASEAN Surin Pitsuwan; and Secretary General of the OIC Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu.