 First of all thank you all for being here. I wanted to start by talking about the place we're in. So a couple of days ago we all mentioned the three reasons to celebrate and congratulate the UAE your national day. The 50th anniversary of it. Expo 2020 and of course the holding of the WPC which is in itself a remarkable achievement because as was mentioned earlier it's the first major intellectual event that is being held in person. So I'm the Iraqi ambassador to the United States and today for me is also a very special day. We have actually two reasons to celebrate. The first is in about a week we will be holding elections. They're important. There are second post ISIS elections and all signals indicate that things are going not ideally but reasonably well for us to be quite hopeful. The second reason is that today has been decided to by the council ministers to be Iraq's national holiday. It marks the adhesion of the Iraqi state freshly out of the post World War I mandate into the League of Nations. That happened 99 years ago. I mentioned it because very shortly thereafter the representative of Iraq to the League of Nations was a certain Muzahim al-Pajici who eventually became prime minister but I mentioned him because he is the father of Adnan Pajici who was one of the friends of Shafzahid, minister of state of Abu Dhabi and also the person who raised the UAE flag at the United Nations and I mentioned this because he was close to him. I was one of his advisors and it is with him that I went back to Iraq after an absence of 30 years on board a UAE plane. So if I'm here it's partly because of that. So when I say thank you to the United Arab Emirates really thank you. We've had so far two days of very high-value content. We're all the richer for it. One of the things that I noticed that I want to highlight is the fact that such meetings show world complexity as it is. You know the interplay between globalization, the need as was mentioned earlier by previous speaker that in order for us to solve our problems we need to work together to face real problems. The impact of the pandemic is one addressing the digital world. We've covered regions of tensions between the EU, the US, China, the problem to finance and we've spent some time talking about issues that really need global governance in order to be addressed. Global terrorism I will mention that for example the anti-ISIS coalition now led by the United States but it's also including many countries including the UAE in Iraq counts about 83 participants. The financial crisis we all know the role of the G20 to address it, the pandemic, the role of the World Health Organization and COVAX and then of course the major threats to the environment which are existential and to give you a number I think at this point we have 190 participants or adherents to the Paris Accord. There are other issues that I think need to be addressed globally for example the fight against corruption which is one of the elements that fosters and sponsors global terrorism. But anyway today here we are here to focus on the Middle East and its relationships with external powers and this is not new. The Middle East has been the focus of external powers for quite a long time. All I need to do is mention Napoleon following colonization by European powers of several countries in the Middle East. World War I, the League of Nation mandates, the discovery of oil. It's interesting our friend Arnaud Boyack reminded me that in fact total energy was born many many years ago in Iraq as was for that matter OPEC. The famous Quincy meeting which exemplifies the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The creation of the State of Israel. Then the Cold War with Baghdad Pact and other groupings. Then the Kuwait War Bush 41. The Global War on Terror with Bush 43 including Afghanistan and Iraq. More recently there was the advent of the Pivot to Asia by the Obama administration. Withdrawal from Iraq. Adhesion to the JCPOA. But eventually they had to return militarily because of Libya because of ISIS. Then of course the emergence of global concerns. Club 21 and the need to address climate change. Followed by the Trump administration. Trump actually characterized his diplomacy by being very personal. The Trump administration pursued the war on terror. But it withdrew from the JCPOA in the Paris Accord. And that ratcheted up tensions in the region. We all remember the killing of General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad. They started negotiations with the Taliban. And then of course culminating with the Abraham Accords that were mentioned earlier. Of course many countries. This is as was mentioned a very controversial and emotional topic in the Middle East. Some countries have adhered for reasons of their own. Others will not. I can I can hardly imagine that Iraq will adhere to the Abraham Accord. But this in fact is an expression of national interest. Morocco adhered for its own reasons. As did Sudan. Now we're dealing with the Biden administration. Their focus is on China. It is quite clear that to all of us in fact that our role, our part in the global mind space of Washington is going to diminish. The focus will shift towards the Pacific. Withdrawal from Afghanistan. Which many have considered. In fact I think maybe one of us here. He called it the first joke strategic defeat of the United States. So we have a straight stage that is set of a region where you have an interplay between global powers. The ambitions of emerging regional powers. And national interest by countries. Who want to assert their sovereignty. All under the umbrella of global concerns that we have to address altogether. I mentioned climate change. Water is another important issue. Food security. Global terrorism. So to discuss these issues we have a really stellar cast. I'll introduce them as they I give them the floor. I will start with our host. The ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Turkey since 2016. His Excellency Khalifa Shaheen and Murad. He's a veteran diplomat. He was posted to Syria and Iran prior to that. But had also postings in Japan and the United Nations. You have the floor sir.