 ومصادرات ومصادرات في سيريا وإراغ. نحن سنتحدث مع المجردين here. س. صالح حسين، هدف الحكمة، دايلاق وكوبراريشن سنتر، جول ريبرن، دبيوتي أسيسن سكرترين ومدينة سيريا، غسان حسباني، دبيوتي برميناستر لبنان، ألاب الجاني، أسيسن سكرترين ومجردين، ولينا أليمي، أسيسن سكرترين ومدينة سيريا وإراغ. سأبدأ my question with you س. صالح الحكيم، your Eminence. What comes first? Reconciliation or reconstruction in these countries that have witnessed destruction especially Syria and Iraq. And the name of God most merciful most compassionate is now me first to express my heartfelt thanks to Al Arabiya and to all the media efforts covering this forum. We can see the efforts deployed in the coverage of this forum which is being held at a pivotal point in time and in a country as esteemed as Jordan. Once again I reiterate my thanks and let me tell you that we cannot have reconstruction without having community stability and peace. And to have that we need to have convictions where the community and the whole of society would feel the need to have coexistence and that the interest of the people lies in peace lies in cooperation. Cooperation must be based on the joint interests the common interests without this type of stability and peace we cannot have reconstruction. In fact peace is the first step to the building of spirits. In the Holy Quran there is a verse that states what means who believe enter into peace do not follow the steps of the devil meaning if we leave the state of peace even if it's a minority of you you will be entrapped with the devil or by the devil in the form of wars and destruction. So peace in the community is the basis of reconstruction but this did not happen in Iraq because after 2003 the war in Mosul ended in 2017 and up until now we still do not have true reconciliation in Iraq right? Yes that is true. Reconciliation is an ideology it must start from within and to make reconciliation we need to have politics and facing this manufacturing of peace we have the manufacturing of hatred and whenever society and the community insists on living on coexistence on tolerance and acceptance of others and this is what happened after our young people liberated Iraq from ISIS or Daesh they became convinced everyone all Iraq is became convinced that they have common interest and this is why now we have grown to be optimistic about this new phase which could be the true starting point of a true reconciliation Mr. Hasbani Lebanon went through a 15 year war which ended a long time ago Reconstruction took place and up until now no one apologized to anyone else and we still do not have any reconciliation so can we say that Lebanon could also be on the verge of a civil war which has or whose wounds have not healed? Well this does not happen in a certain point of time Reconciliation happens as a process it has to go through different stages it may require a generation a full generation of citizens for reconciliation to be fully achieved and reconciliation should happen at several levels because the problems that took place in the war are multi-dimensional it's not only sectarian it's not only partisan it's not only political or with external or internal ties in the previous civil war in Lebanon or in any other war reconciliation has to be a long term process that requires human, intellectual and cultural efforts also efforts at the procedural level because in reconciliation we need to have documentation we need to have agreements that are executed and implemented so that reconciliation is fully completed so you asked me a question yes if Lebanon is in danger Lebanon has many dangers but throughout its history it was able to overcome them one way or another when it was able to face these threats with all of its components and when we agreed on the main dossiers among all the Lebanese actors so do the Lebanese have reconciliation? yes but not according to what we understand of reconciliation the main challenge is how to build institutions to deeply concretize this reconciliation and to step up towards joint action to build the economy and the nation so reconciliation in itself is not sufficient it needs to be followed by practical steps such as documenting the reconciliation promoting it, enhancing it and working on building institutions that would guarantee and preserve the results of this reconciliation in order to build a state Mr. Bajani you are an investor and the head of Al-Futame Holding do you invest in a country which is economically promising but which did not have any national political reconciliation? thank you Rima as you know it is very difficult for any human being to look at a certain reality and be hesitant same thing goes for investment, for reconstruction for the natural cycle of life they cannot wait for any other procedure we could have reconciliation we could have certain procedures that are necessary but there are needs and there are opportunities that need to be used especially by the private sector first Al-Futame Holding is truly committed to the region and our presence in the region is essential for us we try to contribute to stability through creating jobs to having economic growth and investment when we take this into account and when we view reality we can see that there are some countries in the region that have some drawbacks or have certain situations that impeded their progress and development so we try to find investment opportunities and economic opportunities to be available regardless of anything else but here we are talking about two countries Iraq and Syria these two countries suffer from wars do they need to have security stability and reconstruction so you can invest or would you invest whenever you find an opportunity where there is some kind of political calm of course security stability is important but political stability is something else it can be discussed but for security this is necessary we cannot invest in a country which doesn't have a rule of law where we have a different law that is implemented or else investment would be difficult look at all countries that have gone through these challenges you see that internal and external investments are not available they cannot happen so that's very clear I English if that suits you so probably Americans have said it over the past weeks mission is accomplished in Syria that's not what we've said what we have said is that the US-led coalition along with our local partners including the Syrian Democratic Forces have been successful at destroying the physical caliphate of Daesh but we haven't said that that's the end of the story with respect to Daesh and there's a further phase to the campaign against Daesh that has to take place have to keep the pressure against Daesh so that they can't reconstitute themselves and present a new threat there has to be a stabilization phase for the territories that have been liberated from Daesh so that those local communities can be inoculated against the threat of Daesh coming back that means addressing grievances but that means also creating a secure environment where people can pursue livelihoods and so on at the same time that there is continued military pressure of a different kind it looks much more like law enforcement to keep pressure on the clandestine networks of Daesh they've ceased to be a caliphate they have reverted and they already had plans to try to revert to being a clandestine terrorist network that could still pose a threat and also an insurgency that could pose a threat against local authorities so we don't say the job is done we say a lot of progress has been made if you think about the way the situation looked at the beginning of 2017 when you had Daesh still in control of one of the great Arab cities Mosul and Arab capitals and in control of Raqqa and a great deal of eastern Syria I think to imagine that just two years later that that caliphate would be physically destroyed that was something that no one expected at the time two years after the fall the finishing off of ISIS in Mosul Mosul is even worse than what it was and I bet you in two years, three years Raqqa won't look much different why isn't the US involved in the reconciliation process but only the battles and the fighting of ISIS only well I'd say that we are involved in the reconciliation process first of all the difference as I see it the difference between sides in the Syrian conflict is not between regime opposition or Iranians and those who oppose them Russia etc the difference in the Syrian conflict is between those who believe that their aims can be achieved through a military solution and those who believe that there can only be a political solution to the Syrian conflict the United States is firmly on the side of the belief that this conflict has to be solved politically there is no military solution that's coming none of the parties to this conflict can get to their end goal through military means after more than eight years of conflict that reality should have sunk in by now unfortunately there are still those in the Assad regime first and foremost among them who are pursuing a military solution to this conflict that is just making peace further and further away there will be no military into the conflict because the causes of the conflict were political they were political and social that means that they require political and social solution you can't paper over those or you can't military over those let's say with a military solution and think that you've addressed the root causes of the conflict so you still say Assad must go we don't say that what we say is that there has to be a political settlement to the conflict there has to be a political process that has the buy-in of all the parties in order for there to be a sustainable solution and we also think that at the end of that political process there should be a government in Syria that behaves differently towards its people and behaves differently in the region so that it ceases to be hostile to its people fundamentally and that it ceases to be hostile to its neighbors fundamentally and that's the only way to get to a sustainable peace in Syria this is our laimi when we speak about ISIS when we speak about Mosul when we speak about Syria territories that were under ISIS we see a lot of youth involved in those battles how are they able to reconcile themselves they're either gone to prison or they're just roaming around because someone is going to arrest them when we talk about reconciliation it seems to happen between political parties whereby we're dealing with militias and paramilitary forces that the world is getting used to how do these young people reconcile so I mean just building on the comment that was just made one of the most memorable conversations I had in 2011 was with the Desmond Tutu Foundation and they were saying how they regretted waving so long to focus on development and actually involving civil society while they were fighting for a political solution because it meant that even after apartheid generations are still going through the same broken systems and this is what we're seeing today you can remove a leader you can change a policy you can end a war but what happens the next day all the societal conditions the economic inequalities the racial tensions they're still very much there and they can take generations to overcome so actually with youth what we need to do is peace and reconciliation is not the absence of conflict or war or humanitarian atrocities if we want to look at a more ambitious vision of peace which is a positive state of flourishing acceptance equity equality that needs to be built before we actually reach conflict we need to be peace building rather than looking at conflict and reconciliation as a point of departure a lot of these youth are not joining extremist movements for ideological reasons they're joining because of unemployment they're joining because they can't afford to get married they're joining because they were politically marginalized all of these reasons don't all of these grievances are actually made worse by military intervention and we can't if we expect them to reconnect with their humanity we can't dehumanize them as violent extremists actually don't experience things like empathy because a lot of them join extremist movements because they're empathetic so we don't put them in prisons no I didn't say that so being empathetic or compassionate it's not as soft oh we should just love them and not put them in prison or bring them to justice relax we need to bring them to justice but the intention shouldn't be punitive it needs to be that we are helping to rehabilitate them and protect them even when they're acting not in their own self-interest yes your eminence Lena spoke about the reasons of war and Mr. Rayburn was saying that the solution in Syria must be political Iraq did not have any sectarian strife in the last few years but only after 2003 that this has changed so is political reconciliation in the hand of partisan entities or political entities or clergymen because in the heart of the conflict we find a Sunni-Shia conflict or Shia-Shia or Sunni-Sunni or Christian Muslim I think ISIS kills more Sunni than Shias in some areas so it's sectarian par excellence they try to transform the conflict into a sectarian conflict but they weren't able to do so that is because the nature of the Iraqi society is double we are a tribal community and tribes themselves are or include Shias and Sunnis and the Christians are loved by everyone because they are a point of equilibrium in Iraq we never felt that we tend towards a certain entity or denomination it was a pure political conflict and not a societal conflict of course there were some messages sent by Zarqawi and others that kill more Sunnis and Shias in order to have more conflict between them the sectarian problem or the sectarian issue in Iraq was not successful although they wanted to have sectarian conflict our problem is the accumulation of a struggle of dictatorship of unemployment which made our society filled with tension and they became extremist and this needs to be treated clergymen played an important role of all faiths and they have proven not only because I am a clergyman I say that it's not paying lip service but this is a fact that the religious reference in Najaf the Sunnis, the Christians all these faith clergymen played an important role in stability and peace but they also put fire or put oil on the fire no, not from the clergymen maybe a minority or religious references they were taken advantage by the politicians the struggle in Iraq is between religious extremism which was imported or it was muggled into Iraq we never had this extremism whether among the Sunnis or the Shia there was no difference between them we had coexistence and I always say political Islam whenever we introduce religion politics it becomes like a political bazaar and it corrupts both religion and politics our Iraqi society is aware of that the Iraqi society knows that religion has its place politics has its place and they know how religion was taken advantage of by politicians and this awareness was born from the suffering I am highly optimistic by the Iraqi youth and by the Iraqi future when we say reconciliation it must start with awareness and we truly have awareness among our citizens and it was very clear when the young people of Iraq insisted on kicking out Daesh so now young people left the extremist Shia militias but they will join whom they need to begin with job opportunities they need to have paid jobs our religious reference is very clear about this we want to promote the state of law without that we cannot have reconstruction we cannot have reconciliation we need a people who understands coexistence who respects others and their opinions and citizens who have a state which is transparent which has the rule of law where everyone is under the law these are the basic points or basic foundations of the building of the Iraqi society or any society the Iraqi society has taken the right steps towards the right direction and there are even the people are demanding so the government feels under pressure to meet these demands Mr. Hasbani today while being a member of the Lebanese government you see people who are involved in the war which took place 20 or 30 years ago some of them are princes of war they have political parties and they used to be heads of militias during the war regardless of the fact whether they had reconciliation or not they are now sitting around the same table discussing government issues this happened in Iraq in Libya and perhaps it will happen in Syria will the international community today say to Bashar al-Assad let's turn the page now let us move on to solving the problems of refugees of reconstruction of ISIS to answer I am speaking on a personal status I say that every country has its own situation position and circumstances as his Eminence said if we do not have a law above everyone if we do not have regulations to control the economy the society to build the state and its institutions regardless of whether we have reconciliation at the level of the people or not we will not have sustainable stability of course if there were major crimes that were perpetrated and they need to be said to justice we can follow international or if the international community finds there is a need to follow justice they will do so and they will enter into a well known reconciliation phase after the long problems it suffered from it is on a case by case basis the only common denominator is when the state of institutions is built and when the rule of law starts after a preliminary reconciliation all reconciliation are promoted and we go towards citizenship and the issue of sectarianism and politicization is set aside and the whole community moves on to constructive competition even and not only cooperation this is promising this is beautiful to hear but in Lebanon you are the first victims of Syrian refugees or this is what the Lebanese government states in my personal opinion I believe that they are most welcome and they are at their home but the Lebanese government is suffering from this refugee status and you need a solution to achieve what you are talking about in Syria we need 10 years in this time in the meantime where will the refugees be when you talk about the return of refugees we do not target the people who suffered from the war and who came to Lebanon and who hosted by Lebanon the issue of return is for their own sake so that they can go and start with the reconstruction of their own country to go back to their own communities and to their own countries in addition to that Lebanon carries a large burden because almost 40% of the residents of Lebanon are refugees and they all came in a short period of time and this exerted great pressure on the infrastructure and social and this is why we want to collaborate with the international community so that they can return shall we return for a full end of conflict in Syria so that they return not necessarily they can return to the regions where we have minimum stability and security for them so that they can return because this also is part of promoting and enhancing security in Syria when they go back home safe and sound is to have areas that are safe for them this is the first step the second step is going back home so that they can contribute to the reconstruction and the stability of their own country and of course to contribute to the economic and social stability of Lebanon the country that has hosted them or any country that hosted refugees such as Jordan Mr. Bajani before I end up with the issue of multiple reconciliation we've heard from people among the people who took part in the government do you hold an responsibility as a private sector as businessmen as investors towards these countries the countries that are being reconstructed after a war undoubtedly from what we've heard recently that the main groundwork that led to a number of suffering in the region is the is the bad economic situation and to rate the economic situation in numerous countries in the region during the past years this led to the establishment of a groundwork and the establishment of an environment that have contributed to extremism and undoubtedly the private sector in the region which is playing a great role which can contribute in creating jobs and can also build economy is essential and primordial if we look at how the region have dealt with the private sector in general few other countries that know the value of private sector and the private sector was given the opportunities it needed we need the economic deterioration really is an incubator of extremism we cannot fight extremism without having strategic plans to build strong economies in the regions and this requires openness it requires a state of law it requires for the private sector to play a pivotal role in reconstruction in reconstructing the countries post war if we do not reach the solution we will always face problems because we will always have a fertile ground for extremism, fundamentalism and problems do you want the public sector to be part in the political decision making process because the decisions of war and peace are taken and then we ask the public sector to help you always are asked to come to the rescue you are asked for job opportunities otherwise the youth will go to extremism you are asked to reconstruct otherwise something will happen public sector yes of course I will not say the public sector is responsible in the extent that it is the party that should provide this but it is the party that is providing job opportunities to the government that are in the region there is a kind of conciliation not only be the sole source of employment for the youth the private sector has to shoulder this possibility and I doubt like it is in the west in extreme countries the public sector the private sector should be part of the political process I should take that into consideration because development is economic development the development of societies is based on economic development that allows to develop also other corners so this is why in the region we have to have more awareness on the issue we have to allow the participation of the private sector to build an effective groundwork for economic development before continuing our discussion we will take a small break and then we will continue with this panel thank you welcome back and we will continue with this panel discussion on reconciliation and reconstruction in Syria and Iraq and I will continue my talk with Mr. Rayburn before we address that question there is a question that has to be addressed before it and it has to do it also is related to the issue of the refugee problem that the gentleman will just comment if you want to solve a problem you have to address its red causes you have to treat not just the symptoms but you have to cure the disease on the refugee issue in particular so we all see that Lebanon that Jordan that Turkey are bearing disproportionate burden in hosting millions of Syrian refugees it's a situation where incredibly about half of the pre-war Syrian population no longer lives in their homes but the question the question isn't what is the process the question you have to answer first is why did they leave their homes it's not as though the weather changed these people were chased from their homes by a regime that terrorized them and hasn't stopped terrorizing them this conference today and tomorrow falls in between two really grim anniversaries one is the April 4th 2017 chemical attack against Khan Sheikhoun by the Assad regime and the other is the April 7th 2018 chemical attack against Duma again by the Assad regime not to mention the 2013 chemical attack against East Ghouta that killed over 1300 people and on and on and on the regime has not changed its hostile behavior toward its own people they chased those people out of their homes and the regime so far has shown no interest in having those people go back so it's not the refugees who are the problem for Lebanon Turkey and Jordan and others who are hosting it it's the Syrian government who are the problem and what's the US doing about that the US government was one of the first to say that there's no replacement to Assad he's going to stay there we know very well but he wanted Assad gone he would have been gone by now we didn't say that we didn't intend that either what we have said repeatedly is that it's for the Syrian people to decide their own leadership their own government through a political process that the Syrian people should own and lead that the international community can help to facilitate but that the Syrian people have to choose their own really if that process has to begin and the Assad regime has got to stop its hostile behavior its attacks against civilians its rounding up of people who disappear into their prisons because in addition to the refugees another obstacle to reconciliation and to political stability in Syria is we have the question about the fate of more than perhaps 200,000 Syrians who have disappeared into the regime's prisons but we know very well that the US has boots on the ground in Syria Turkey has boots on the ground in Syria Iran has boots on the ground boots on the ground in Syria through proxy militias and their own Russia too everyone is in Syria so the Syrian people are not left alone to decide their own fate but do I understand from your conversation is it too soon to talk about reconstruction let me put it this way what the Assad regime and its patrons Russia and Iran in particular appear to want is having been the main factor in the destruction of Syria they would like for the rest of the international community to fund the rebuilding of what they have destroyed but to do it without any political reform to address the root causes of the conflict without changing the nature of governance in Syria so that refugees will choose to go back because they feel safe in going back and without changing the participation of the people in the political system to determine their own political fate so in other words at this stage those who are talking about reconstruction 24-7 really are asking for the international community to underwrite a military solution to the conflict that is feudal because as I said before there is no military solution that can be sustainable so I think we have to be talking about a political settlement we have to be talking about a political process that can actually lead to political reconciliation in Syria and it has with it accountability for the atrocities that have gone before because people will not politically reconcile without some accountability for what has happened and they will not go home feel confident that they can go home safely if they are just facing the same killing machine when they go back so this might take another 10 years I don't know how long it would take for our part we are optimistic and we are hopeful that a political process can be underway, can begin to make progress far sooner than that in our view the conditions are there and those who want to continue on with the military solution are ignoring the reality on the ground in our view 2019 should be the year of a reality check for the parties to this conflict they should realize that they are not within reach of a military solution that will get them their aims and that this is the year to switch from the battlefield to the negotiating table and to come up with a sustainable peaceful solution this you mean Syria's I mean all parties Russians included you had a comment Ms. Alolaini yes I just wanted to go back to the role of business I think actually business has such an understated and powerful role not just in the things that you mentioned but also in instituting the values and the culture so through corporate culture through corporate policies big business can actually move society in advance of government policies so things like diversity and inclusion, values of you know tolerance, coexistence in the workplace and at the end of the day if we really think about it most of the threats the issues we face are a conflict or a crisis of values so this is where business can actually help in reconstructing these values and that societal awareness and consciousness I totally agree I mean she's absolutely right business has a big role to play and if I if I were to switch in Arabic I would say that private sector has a major role to play but also the private sector to have the ground work to be able to work we cannot ask the private companies and the private sector to work in an illegal framework and to work in the framework outside of the international community that does not allow it to work naturally in a natural ecosystem we have to have infrastructure and ground work for that and I believe to go back to our main issue reconstruction requires reconstruction of the current economies reconstruction of the legal frameworks providing of course legal security that allows businesses to work and prices to work yes businesses have a role to play they affect the development of countries on an ethical level on the level of values as well and it allows the youth to be to be safe and not to and not to drive them towards extremism but rather in businesses will help them to really to put more concentration on building the societies communities and families Your Excellency Mr Ambassador holding the Syrian regime as so responsible the Syrian regime was there before the problem before the conflict there are parties that contributed in really giving birth to this problem that really instituted chaos in our region as a whole the true solution as the real solution is in instituting a framework of peace reconciliation among the people to really rebuild solidarity among the people we believe or we feel that international community is not serious enough in fighting hatred terrorism we do not believe feel in the region that the international community is taking serious step to fight terrorism and extremism is the role of the Americans or the Iraqis and the Syrians the role of Iraq and Syria they are living in a part of the world in a region the world has a part to play in the solution and in the problem when we feel that the international community is serious when we are fighting terrorism we understand that our Iraq the problem is not only caused by the regime there are parties who have contributed in the conflict and they are still fighting in stoking problems in stoking hatred in the region since you are talking about Iraq I will take Mosul as an example and Mr. Rebern also can participate in this discussion we know war against ISIS ended in 2017 in Mosul did anything change on the ground did reconstruction take place was a building really reconstructed in Mosul one year and a half reconstruction is different than reconciliation it depends on awareness reconstruction depends on a state of law a law that is built on accountability transparency where government is accountable whose role is it is it the role of the Iraqi government or the role of the Americans or the coalition that have bombarded ISIS and that have led to destruction the role of the Iraqi government the others have to help the government the main burden is soldered by the Iraqi government our problem in Iraq requires ethics in governance which is something missing in Iraq we do not have transparency in government we have lost that reconstruction is not the work of the people it is the work of the state the state has to be a state of law so the capital can invest and can play part in reconstruction even the neighboring countries can invest if also if these countries do not want Iraq to be stable if they do not really support our reconstruction problem our main problem is from the neighboring countries I remember Prime Minister Hariri when he wanted to start reconstruction he first went to the neighboring countries he saw to what limit he is allowed to reconstruct today our problem is that the Iraqi people are understanding that there are countries who do not want Iraq to rise again Iran for example no the problem is not in one country there is a general atmosphere that is why the new steps the steps of the new government in Iraq to open and reconcile with Jordan Egypt Arab world and others finding this balance this equilibrium is really to lay the groundwork and this is what we need our problem is to have an ethical state right Russia has leveled to the ground so many cities and the Syrian regime as well but there is also a general impression that the coalition has destroyed a lot in ISIS strong health areas in Syria and in Iraq also post Saddam Hussein the main facilities that have been bombarded were not renovated by the international community that took these steps again who is going to pay the price for this reconstruction we understand that the international community is worried about worried from terrorists and ISIS and Al Qaeda but after destruction isn't there any responsibility on the same international community to rebuild those countries and cities and areas if you're talking about Syria I mean the vast majority of destruction in Syria has come in the major population centers of Syria that's been done by the Assad regime itself with the help of the Russian Air Force and with the help of Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps رقا أم بغوز don't look much better now رقا أم بغوز are an interesting problem because over 4 years or more than 3 years in رقا داش was able to turn most of رقا into one big into into one big bomb and was able to construct military defenses there and then fight from civilian areas in a way that made the fighting very very difficult and very costly so I as a former military person looking at the military problem as it unfolded in رقا and also in West Mosul in particular داش had a military plan to have those cities destroyed and to fight from civilian areas and to try to inflict as much try to provoke as much damage as possible so there's a lot of rebuilding to be done in رقا and in Mosul will the US take part in that رقا was a good example so far of getting rid of ISIS are you attributing to the rebuilding process sure the US the rebuilding I think rebuilding of رقا I've been to رقا and I've seen I think the people there are very resilient they just need the right conditions and I think the life of that city will take off it's already coming back to some degree which is a stark contrast to parts of هالب for example رحمة and همس which remain in ruins and depopulated so the conditions are quite different the conditions of Mosul are very complex the thing about Mosul I say this not as a Mosul is not something that I work on today I say this in my other life as a historian of the war in رقا we saw since 2003 Mosul changed hands I used to count I think 7 or 8 times and each time the proximate cause was a political struggle that extremists on both sides were able to hijack and turn into a conflict among different communities so as I look at Mosul out of the corner of my eye from Syria that would be the thing that I'd worry about first is that the community has to come together the fabric of the community has to come together or else you'll see it change hands again and again I want to come back to you and talk about the Caesar Act that probably stops anyone from rebuilding anything in Syria or around it but I want to go first to Mr. حسباني what is the recipe for reconstruction will the Lebanese have the opportunity to reconstruct Syria knowing that Caesar Act is a draft law in the US Congress that does not allow to give money to the Syrian regime currently the major opportunity in Lebanon is to reconstruct the Lebanese infrastructure to stabilize the Lebanese economy the infrastructure in Lebanon that was really affected by the crisis in the region talking about reconstruction in Syria is still early before having as we've said before having final solutions to the situation in Syria which allows the institution or the establishment of a permanent framework for reconstruction we have to look always at reconstruction they are not packs or packages of assistance that come without conditions just to reconstruct buildings facilities and infrastructure if we do not have a comprehensive reconstruction and rehabilitation of governance and of control systems of the solutions in order to manage the reconstruction if reconstruction is only an alternative for really rebuilding government this reconstruction might not be sustainable and which will lead to great burdens on the government from loans and other financial burdens on the long term because reconstruction is not sustainable without institutions so the main condition for success for reconstruction to any country post war post conflict is to rehabilitate reconstruct state establishment state administrations state legislations and use them in the reconstruction process in instability this way reconstruction will be sustainable will lead to a sustainable economic process that will allow sustainable investment without really having to recur to loans and this is we are speaking about experience in Lebanon after the war because reconciliation is the basis on which these state institutions will be built and accordingly we will be able to reconstruct facilities institutions infrastructure alternative the procedures and state of law the GDP in the region compared to the US is very low why are we optimistic when we are listening to all of this discussion that is not encouraging it is very low even if we compare it to the world the world the GDP of the world is around 88 trillion US dollars and this region only has 3 trillion in GDP yes the challenge is big but the opportunities are bigger yes it is true from what we are listening that we are living in a very difficult environment neighboring countries benefits interests but if I want to talk again about businesses if we look at the countries as a business all businesses have competitions we cannot think that our competitors that will help us we have to shoulder our responsibilities the Arab youth the Arab region needs development needs job opportunities it is not a matter of talking of thinking of waiting of reconciliating not reconciliating because really reality is ahead of us today are you ready to invest in Libya in Iraq in Syria listen we are committed to the region but we invest pragmatically yes investment should be according to what reason requires state law and international law that facilitates that procedures for investment to be there there is a saying that says that capital is a coward no that capital is rationalistic pragmatic I hope everyone will follow this rationale just to give you an example when when when open a shopping mall in for example Lebanon or Syria how many opportunities you will provide wherever we are we are in Lebanon if I give you Lebanon as an example that we have opened in Lebanon really created thousands of job opportunities 4,000 to 5,000 job opportunities also created more than 10,000 job opportunities or employment for example market thousands of job opportunities these projects are mega projects and really create sustainable job opportunities and allow the businesses to grow and allow certain people to develop et cetera so this is how we can build a serious economy but this cannot take place if we do not have a set of law if we do not have the correct groundwork big investors like Fatim think about Syria with Caesar Act coming well Caesar Act hasn't come yet from congress but our administration supports it fully and we hope to see it come because we see the situation I would turn the situation that you presented on its head which is that we think the Caesar Act which is an instrument of accountability for atrocities that have taken place in Syria that measures like the Caesar Act are necessary to get to that accountability that is essential for political reconciliation which is the only thing that can make reconstruction or outside investment sustainable if you do this without if you seek investment or reconstruction without reconciliation without the political reconciliation which is why it's very wise that this session is called reconciliation and reconstruction because they go hand in hand if you're reconstruct under those conditions without reconciliation you're building on sand because whatever you construct is going to be destroyed again because you haven't addressed the causes of the conflict I'll give you the final word especially that you have a book that's called Compassionate Counter Terrorism so actually what really worries me getting locked into this cycle of endless reconstruction is there is a القاعد a legacy document a manifesto called the management of savagery ادارة التوحش and it outlines in prescriptive detail how their strategy is to polarize to cause chaos, destruction to overextend predominately the US and they have succeeded so they see it as this is how the Soviet Union imploded and so the same can be argued this is their strategy with Arab governments and we are feeding into this strategy so that's really what keeps me up at night I would like to be just in brief there is an interconnected world today we have to find a human cooperation a human partnership that believes that humanity is one family without this feeling we will remain disconnected and not connected I would like to thank my speakers my panelists and I always remind you that wars end and cities flourish again but who lost a father a mother a family a child nothing can really compensate thank you