News, September 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
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Arab-Americans Move to Bridge Communal Divide
Bree Fowler • AP Arab News
DETROIT, 30 September 2003 — Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Arab-American leaders shared similar hopes of using economic ties to bridge differences as the US-Arab Economic Forum opened in Detroit.
“Our challenge is to build the strength of our individual voices into an outstanding chorus of diversity,” Granholm said Sunday during a gala dinner to kick off the conference, which runs through Tuesday. She said the forum is about understanding.
Detroit, with an estimated 300,000 Arab-Americans, is home to one of the nation’s largest concentrations of people with roots in the Middle East. “There is much to be gained by coming together,” said Ahmad Chebbani, chairman of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce. “This is meant to be a stepping stone on which the future is built.”
Before the dinner, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his counterpart from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, signed a sister-city agreement, pledging to work together on economic opportunities.
“Dubai is a gateway city and Dubai has overcome significant challenges already,” Kilpatrick said. “Dubai is on the move.”
Qassam Sultan, Dubai’s director general, is among Arab leaders from Dubai, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and elsewhere expected to attend the conference, along with top executives of Fortune 500 companies, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.
Qassam said Dubai planned next year to host a summit that would include representatives from each of Dubai’s seven sister-cities worldwide. Sam Hamdan, the forum’s chief strategist and chairman of its organizing body, said the gathering will highlight accomplishments in Arab countries.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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