Doha, Qatar—Trying to build bridges between the United States and the Muslim world, the third US-Islamic World Forum kicked off here Sunday evening, April 10, bringing together delegations from 35 countries and more than 150 participants.

The agenda for the three-day gathering includes combating terrorism, the situation in occupied Iraq and Palestine, economic and IT cooperation and human development, Lebanon’s leading English-language newspaper The Daily Star reported on Monday, April 11.

Among the speakers at this forum are former US ambassador and assistant secretary of state Martin Indyk, former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, former Sudanese Prime Minister Sadiq Al-Mehdi, former US ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrook, and Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Mohammad Dahlan.

This is the third US-Islamic World Forum jointly sponsored by the Washington-based Brookings Institution and the State of Qatar.

US-Driven Reform

US-driven democratic reforms in the region are also high on the agenda.

“The American-Islamic dialogue must be directed to finding means to ease tensions, especially as the US had over the last few years either directly intervened or become closely involved with the most complicated developments in the Arab world,” Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani addressed the opening session.

He told the delegates that the “dialogue on democracy between the two parties needs to be an issue of agreement, not contention,” Qatar’s The Gulf Times reported Monday.

“Both sides had to be willing to listen to the views of the other, seek the truth and recognize the friendship that underpinned their relations,” he said.

Addressing the session, Egyptian rights activist Saad El-Dine Ibrahim also called on the Americans to secure dignity and respect for the people of the region.

Otherwise “democracy will be a mirage”, he warned.

However, he was afraid that the US-led war against Iraq and imposition of democracy was a sign of unilateralism rather than an attempt to fight terrorism.