Press release
19November 2007

NBK organizes ‘Opportunity and Crisis in the Middle East’ Symposium

National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) organized on Sunday a symposium titled ‘Opportunity and Crisis in the Middle East’ at the Sheraton Hotel. The symposium was held under the patronage of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah. The Guest speaker for the evening was former US Secretary of State General Colin Powell.

The evening started with the opening remarks by Nasser Musaed Al-Sayer, NBK Vice Chairman, who thanked H. H. the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah for his patronage of this event and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign affairs Sheikh / Dr Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, who attended on the Prime Minister’s behalf. He also thanked speak here tonight.

Elaborating on the theme of the evening, the Vice Chairman said, “There has rarely been a time in history in which two seemingly opposing forces- opportunity and crisis- were so obviously and simultaneously apparent as today, not only in the Middle East, but across the world.”

The evening saw many distinguished personalities from political, economic and social backgrounds. With the setting absolutely perfect, General Powell began his address by reminiscing about how much the world has changed in the past 50 years.

General Powell gave an overall view of the changing world scenario before he touched on the opportunity and crisis in the Middle East. He stated that it helps give proper perspective to the title “No region stands alone anymore; no region can think itself separate…from the trends that sweeping across the world.”

General Powell concluded by saying, “It is a fascinating period of history… It is period of history, where wealth is being created in a way that nobody could imagine, a few years ago, driven to a large extent by oil and the price of oil, but it is not just supply and demand, it is the increasing demand needed, for these countries to build up their economies, and oil is the lubricant that is needed to build up these economies.”