Valdai Club

This report is based on discussions held at the Valdai Club's Middle East Dialogue conference, which took place in Marrakesh, Morocco, on May 14-15, 2013. The event was attended by high-profile politicians from the Middle East and North Africa, including leaders of Islamist movements, as well as prominent experts, analysts and journalists from Russia and around the world.

The Lebanese experience in resolving inter-religious conflict may provide clues for resolving the situation in Syria, said Secretary General of the Lebanese National Dialogue Party Fouad Makhzoumi at the Valdai Club Middle East Dialogue in Morocco. About 100 political and public figures and experts on the Middle East from Russia, the Middle East and North Africa and the West are discussing the future of political Islam in the Arab world.

Helmy Elgazzar says the criticism from the liberal opposition is not justified. Hesham Qandil’s cabinet, he says, was able to resolve the critical shortage of household gas and the “bread issue”.

The agreement made in Cairo on forming a national unity government will allow the Palestinians to overcome discord and begin integration of all government structures.

The failure of the Islamist political parties who came to power in the dramatic events of the Arab Spring would allow the military to reenter the political arena. Political Islam was successful in the opposition, but it could fail in power, as the negative experience of Egypt and Iraq have shown.

Netanyahu arrived in Sochi to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The discussion, according to the two leaders, covered a wide range of issues, from the economic component of bilateral relations to the ongoing conflict in Syria.

Nader Bakkar, an official representative and one of the founders of the influential Egyptian Salafi political party al-Nour told RIA Novosti that its delegation plans to visit Russia in the near future.

The Arab Spring has dramatically changed the alignment of forces in the Middle East and North Africa. What are the long-term consequences of these changes and how can relations be established with the new political elites? Politicians and leading experts on Middle East studies discussed these issues at the Valdai International Discussion Club conference, “Islam in Politics: Ideology or Pragmatism?” in Marrakesh, Morocco, on May 14-15.

Closer collaboration between Russia and the United States is required to settle the crisis in Syria. Both Russia and the United States have a certain influence in the region. The only question is whether the two countries will collaborate or prefer to ignore each other.

Islamist forces coming to power in ‘Arab Spring’ countries could provoke a fresh wave of protests and lead to civil wars, experts said at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Marrakesh on Wednesday. The Arab Spring not only has not ended, but will remain the key factor in the development of the region