Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell heading to Dubai for Leaders Forum

The retired four-star general who played a key role in the 1991 Operation Desert Storm and later became Secretary of State under US President George W Bush, will deliver the closing keynote address at this year's Forum.

General Powell will join Queen Noor of Jordon; the former head of Disney, Michael Eisner; retired IBM president and CEO Louis V Gerstner Jr, economist and forecaster, Harry S. Dent Jr; internationally renowned corporate strategist, CK Prahalad; and creative thinker, Edward de Bono in the line up of key note speakers at the Forum.

They will accompanied by members of the Al Rouad group of Arab business pioneers, including Maha K. Al Ghunaim, Faisal bin Juma Belhoul, Yousef Al-Essa, Esam Yousif Janahi, Ibrahim Al Asmakh and Ibrahim Belselah.

Event director Alan Kelly said it was a major coup to get Colin Powell as the closing keynote speaker.

"He is an inspiring speaker, especially when it comes to talking about leadership issues," said Mr Kelly.

Among other things General Powell will discuss the power of diplomacy and the difficult path towards peace in the Middle East.

"We have a very powerful line up of speakers this year, but I am sure that General Powell will be the one that many people will want to hear,"

said Mr Kelly.

As the 65th United States Secretary of State, he led major efforts to resolve regional and civil conflicts across the globe. Before becoming Secretary of State, Colin Powell served as a key aide to the Secretary of Defence and as National Security Advisor to President Reagan.

He also served 35 years in the United States Army, rising to the rank of Four-Star General and serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership," says Powell.

More than 2000 of the regions most senior business and government executives will attend the Leaders in Dubai Business Forum 2006 which is to be held at the Dubai International Convention Centre on November 28 and 29.