Prince Al Walid bin Talal throws weight behind WEF's C-100 initiative

Announcement of the move by the Kingdom Holding Company's CEO was made at the annual Meeting of the WEF at the Dead Sea in Jordan.

With the establishment of American Studies Centres at two universities in the Middle East, he has now thrown his weight behind the Forum's C-100, a clearinghouse for action-oriented projects that advance Islamic-Western reconciliation. The C-100 group promotes understanding and dialogue between the two worlds rendered potentially hostile by 9-11 and the Iraq War.

The C-100 group is the foremost community of senior political, religious, business, media and opinion leaders from the West and the Islamic world. Council members present at the Meeting launched a framework for the peace building initiative.

The initiative will foster culture of respect and cooperation together with mutual understanding between traditions and overcome the tensions and mistrusts of the era. Dialogues in education, media, religion and business best practice are expected to result from the initiative.

C-100 will also establish a multifaceted intercultural dialogue that bridges divides through shared commitment to common values and goals, together with a programme of joint action bringing concrete practical results, transformational change and highly visible cooperation.

The C-100 is chaired by Lord Carey of Clifton, Former Archbishop of Canterbury, United Kingdom and H.R.H. Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, Chairman, King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, Saudi Arabia. The group represents the first global effort to set in motion official and explicit cooperation between the Western and Islamic worlds.