Katara to host GPDNet assembly, international conference

The 8th general assembly meeting of the GPDNet will be held with the participation of 22 countries on February 21-22 at Katara – the Cultural Village, it was announced Thursday.The Katara Public Diplomacy Centre will also host an international conference on *Public Diplomacy in the Arab Gulf States: Policies and Practices* in co-operation with the Gulf Studies Centre at Qatar University on February 19-20.The conference will be attended by diplomats, researchers, experts and academics from Qatar and 13 other countries.The details of both events were announced at a press conference yesterday at Katara general manager and GPDNet head Prof Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti and GPDNet secretary-general Katara Public Diplomacy Centre chief executive Darwish Ahmed al-Shaibani.Regarding the GPDNet meeting, Prof al-Sulaiti said that out of the 27 member states, 22 are participating.Al-Shaibani said that the meeting and conference will contribute to strengthening the status and presence of public diplomacy in an effective and sustainable manner in the process of development, progress and renaissance."The 8th GPDNet assembly meeting will witness an increase in the level of representation of the member states of the network,” he said. "Each country is represented by a high-level delegation comprising ambassadors and senior diplomatic figures.”"Katara has succeeded in strengthening the status of public diplomacy and the need to give it the priority and attention it deserves,” al-Shaibani added.The official also announced that the next meeting will also witness the election of the first board of directors of the international public diplomacy network, with the aim of creating strong and lasting relations between member states."The conference will symbolise an ideal platform to review the latest theories and ideas in public diplomacy while bringing together diplomats, researchers and academics from Qatar and various countries of the world,” al-Shaibani said."This is with the objective of benefiting from contemporary international experiences and exploring new horizons for public diplomacy in light of the rapid international challenges and changes,” he said, pointing out that a book containing all the research and working papers presented at the conference will be issued.