Kuwait
The Vision Gulf Business Conference
was organized in Kuwait on 31 May 2016 on the theme "Opportunities for
Innovation and Coexistence", preceded by a press conference on 30 May. The
conference, planned to be an annual event, aims to explore, inspire and
offer practical approaches for building a better future for Kuwait. Ethical
Business Building the Future (ebbf) was a conference partner, and Dr. Wendi
Momen OBE and I from the ebbf Governing Board were invited as keynote
speakers.
. 
. 
Conference room at the Jamairah Marsilah Beach Hotel in Kuwait
. 
. 
Organizers and guests; opening remarks
I gave the opening keynote on "The
future of business in a world with a changing climate" highlighting
the requirement of the Paris Agreement for a rapid transition to a low
carbon society and the challenges this represents for a country like Kuwait
with a economy built on oil, suggesting some of the options for a more
sustainable future. The following workshop allowed participants to discuss
some of the positive directions that Kuwait could take.
. 
. 
First keynote by Arthur Dahl
. 
. 
Climate change is a challenging issue for the oil-producing countries
of the Gulf
. 
. 
Workshop to discuss options for Kuwait
The second speaker was Dr. Hamad Al-Hasawi, President of the Kuwait Banking
Association, on "Strategic projects in Kuwait: opportunities and
challenges".
. 
. 
Dr. Hamad Al-Hasawi
. 
. 
Dr. Hamad Al-Hasawi; part of the audience
. 
Audience
. 
. 
. 
. 
Speakers Dr. Hamad Al-Hasawi; Bayan Salmanpour; Dr. Arthur Dahl
. 
. 
Discussions continued during the break
The second conference session began with conference organizer and ebbf
member Bayan Salmanpour speaking on "Coexistence, business and the
environment, do they mix?", followed my my second talk on "The
UN 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals: challenges and
opportunities". A list of Sustainable Development Goals and targets
relevant to business was distributed to all participants.
. 
. 
Bayan Salmanpour
The last conference keynote was by Dr. Wendi Momen on "Why bother with
business ethics? The ebbf view" in which she discussed a number of passages
from the Qur'an about ethics in business transactions.
. 
. 
Dr. Wendi Momen and her presentation from the Qur'an
. 
Some of the audience
The conference concluded with a panel discussion responding to questions
from the audience. Discussion continued afterwards around an extensive
buffet lunch.
. 
. 
Closing panel of Wendi Momen, Bayan Salmanpour and Arthur Dahl
. 
. 
Questions to the panel from the audience
. 
Group picture with the organizers at the end; lunch
The conference was held at the
luxurious Jumairah Marsilah Beach Hotel, and with an outside temperature of
48°C during the day, we spent more time indoors than out.
. 
. 
Jumairah Marsilah Beach Hotel
. 
. 
Hotel beach; Gulf coast looking north to Kuwait City; coastline south
. 
. 
Jumairah Beach Hotel
. 
. 
Jumairah Beach Hotel interiors
. 
. 
Conference room