The kids are alright! This was the overwhelming conclusion of the two-day workshop conducted by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS)’s Regional Programme Gulf States from October 4-5 in Riyadh. In cooperation with the Gulf Research Center (GRC), KAS brought together ten young researchers, five from Germany and five from Saudi Arabia, for an exchange of ideas about policy fields relevant to cooperation between the two countries. The result was an enlightening discussion that underlined the importance of convening representatives of the next generation of leaders in politics, academia, and culture in order to share their ideas about issues that will define international relations for years to come.
Guided by three subject-area experts, Drs Tobias Zumbrägel, Cinzia Bianco, and Aziz Alghashian, the young researchers spent the workshop’s first day discussing Saudi-German relations in the context of climate change, international security, and sports and culture. In doing so, they shed light upon present-day challenges, success stories, and potential domains for future bilateral cooperation. The first day also featured an introductory session, led by Drs Sebastian Sons and Christian Koch, on composing policy papers. This served the purpose of bringing the young researchers up to speed on best practices for writing texts directed toward decision-makers. Equipped with these skills, workshop participants – divided into five Saudi-German tandems – will produce policy papers on cooperation between the two countries in a policy field of their choosing.
Building on the discussions from the workshop’s first day, the sessions on October 5th gave the Saudi-German tandems the opportunity to identify an appropriate topic and research question for their respective policy papers. Over the course of five hours, participants formulated paper outlines that they presented in the workshop’s concluding session, during which they received feedback from their peers, the subject-area experts, and the Regional Programme Gulf States’ project team, represented by Philipp Dienstbier and Nicolas Reeves.
Following each workshop day, KAS organised an exciting cultural programme intended to establish a practical link between participants’ policy-paper topics and changes occurring on the ground as part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. Accordingly, the young researchers visited At-Turaif World Heritage Site, the fortress that served as the locus of power of the First Saudi State, whose territory encompassed the entirety of Nejd and the Hejaz before an Ottoman invasion from Egypt brought about its downfall in 1818. In addition, participants viewed the special exhibition on the city of The Line, one of the futuristic megaprojects conceived as part of the NEOM Special Economic Zone in the kingdom’s north-western region. Finally, KAS organised an excursion to the Riyadh International Book Fair on the premises of King Saud University, after which most of the participants decided to attend the football match between Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr FC and Abha.
The workshop represented an encouraging first step in KAS’s efforts to encourage partnership and exchange between young change-makers from Europe and the Gulf, with a view toward establishing a network of young professionals that connects the two regions. The policy papers that the young researchers will write – which span topics ranging from leveraging public parks to teach children about environmental protection to using art as an entry point for exchanges of ideas about sustainable and inclusive urban renewal – will inject new ideas into discussions on potential areas of Saudi-German cooperation.
