17th November 2003

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Northern Ireland’s experience in emerging from conflict could be a model for the Middle East, a top level international conference in Belfast will hear this week.

Hosted by the University of Ulster, in association with The Northern Ireland/Middle East Connection - a private sector initiative created by a group of US entrepreneurs led by software pioneer Dr John Cullinane - the conference brings Middle-Eastern policy makers and business leaders here to gain first hand insight into how economic regeneration and the peace process have transformed Northern Ireland.

Over 100 delegates from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, USA, Lebanon and Ireland will hear from local politicians, community leaders and academics how Northern Ireland has positive lessons for the Middle East in the fields of

• economic regeneration
• the role of women in building peace
• powering economic development through grass-roots community involvement

Professor Gillian Robinson, director of INCORE and conference co-ordinator, said: “In recent times, we have been involved in sharing the lessons learned from the NI conflict with policy makers from other world troublespots, and this conference represents an opportunity to build on these links, and give something back.

“The University has been at the forefront of international and comparative research into conflict resolution in divided societies, and we are now moving to make available our global experience in conflict resolution to further the cause of peace and economic development in the Middle East.”

The conference is the brainchild of Dr John Cullinane and colleagues Dan Singer and Geoffrey Lewis, who will present a draft plan proposing 20,000 contact centre jobs in the Middle East as a first step in the economic regeneration of the region.

Northern Ireland’s experience will be invaluable in driving forward the NIMEC development plan, says Dr Cullinane.

“Jobs can lead to community support for new, enlightened approaches to problem-solving,” he said.

“The reason we are presenting our Middle East economic regeneration plan in Northern Ireland is because the people here have learned that it is indeed possible to do very difficult things in a remarkable short period of time. As such, they are the best possible models for peace in the Middle East.”

The NIMEC sponsors feel strongly that Northern Ireland has much to offer as a strategic location for CEOs in the Middle East and America to meet to create joint ventures.

Their Middle East economic growth plan focuses on implementing measures to encourage the Arab-American and Israeli-American business communities to invest in the economic development of the Middle East, as many Irish-American businesses have done in Northern Ireland over the past decade.

Opening the conference, Professor Gerry McKenna, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ulster, said:

“Northern Ireland is not yet a post-conflict society: it is a society emerging from conflict, one in transition. Nevertheless, our story already has a moral to it, one that we hope will resonate in other places of conflict such as the Middle East. We must be modest about our progress; but we must not be afraid to stand up and offer it as a symbol of hope to people who are currently in the depths of the despair which marked our own community less than a decade ago.

“What we have done is to take those first tentative steps towards overcoming historic divisions, suspicions and distrust. But even the beginnings of a social and political consensus, based on respect for cultural diversity and tolerance of different cultural values is, we hope, a light to the rest of the world. Our progress demonstrates that no matter how entrenched the attitudes or polarised the views of the past, you must never give up the search for a common future.”

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk